Kolkata Metro speed up, but services still under 300
Jayanta Gupta | TNN | Mar 14, 2019, 08:23 IST
Kolkata MetroKOLKATA: Though trains will speed up between Park Street and Chandni Chowk stations from Thursday, there will be little solace for passengers as Metro Railway has announced it doesn’t have the fleet strength to go back to running 300 services like before speed restrictions were imposed along the stretch.
Speed restrictions were imposed from February 4 when tunnel boring machines started work in the Esplanade-Sealdah section of the East-West corridor. “Though the restriction of 10km per hour will be withdrawn, only 284 services will be run. At the moment we don’t have sufficient rakes to run 300 services,” said Metro Railway CPRO Indrani Banerjee.
Metro has 13 air-conditioned rakes and about 7-8 non-AC ones in working order. It requires at least 20 rakes to run 300 services. According to an official, at present there is no rake that can be kept as a standby to take over if one develops a technical snag. From the passengers’ point of view, many more of them will have to squeeze into each train, making rides uncomfortable even as the mercury rises.
However, six new rakes are currently stabled at the Metro’s Noapara carshed. One of these arrived from China last week and will require three-four months to complete trials. The remaining five are from ICF, Chennai, and have cleared trials. But Metro is still awaiting a nod from the Railway Board to introduce them for commercial services. Officials believe that the clearance will arrive soon, following which the five new rakes can be introduced.
“The Electrical Inspector to the Government was the last to inspect the rakes. He has already sent the report to the Railway Board. The rakes have cleared all tests and we are awaiting the Board’s nod. Hopefully, the permission to run the new rakes will arrive soon. We may introduce the new rakes by the end of this month itself, an official said.
Once the five ICF rakes receive clearance from the Board, the other nine from Chennai can join commercial services as soon as they reach Kolkata. It is the same with the Dalian rakes from China. As soon as the first one clears trials, the others will join services directly.
Speed restrictions were imposed from February 4 when tunnel boring machines started work in the Esplanade-Sealdah section of the East-West corridor. “Though the restriction of 10km per hour will be withdrawn, only 284 services will be run. At the moment we don’t have sufficient rakes to run 300 services,” said Metro Railway CPRO Indrani Banerjee.
Metro has 13 air-conditioned rakes and about 7-8 non-AC ones in working order. It requires at least 20 rakes to run 300 services. According to an official, at present there is no rake that can be kept as a standby to take over if one develops a technical snag. From the passengers’ point of view, many more of them will have to squeeze into each train, making rides uncomfortable even as the mercury rises.
However, six new rakes are currently stabled at the Metro’s Noapara carshed. One of these arrived from China last week and will require three-four months to complete trials. The remaining five are from ICF, Chennai, and have cleared trials. But Metro is still awaiting a nod from the Railway Board to introduce them for commercial services. Officials believe that the clearance will arrive soon, following which the five new rakes can be introduced.
“The Electrical Inspector to the Government was the last to inspect the rakes. He has already sent the report to the Railway Board. The rakes have cleared all tests and we are awaiting the Board’s nod. Hopefully, the permission to run the new rakes will arrive soon. We may introduce the new rakes by the end of this month itself, an official said.
Once the five ICF rakes receive clearance from the Board, the other nine from Chennai can join commercial services as soon as they reach Kolkata. It is the same with the Dalian rakes from China. As soon as the first one clears trials, the others will join services directly.
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