Centrail Railway's Rajdhani to undergo push-pull trials this week

A part of the train has arrived at the Wadibunder yard at Sandhurst Road

Central Railway's (CR) sole Rajdhani Express is all set to undergo its trials for the push-pull mechanism to negotiate the difficult Kasara Ghat terrain, from this week. A team of senior officials from the Research, Standards and Design Organisation (RDSO), the technical consultant for Indian Railways, will arrive in Mumbai on Tuesday to conduct the trials for two WAP-7 class locomotives and 20 high-end coaches.

Recently, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced that CR's first Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani Express would pass through Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Kalyan, Nasik, Jalgaon, Khandwa, Bhopal, Jhansi, Agra and Hazrat Nizamuddin. He further said that the train would run twice a week. Currently, only two Rajdhani trains run between Delhi and Mumbai, and both pass through the Western Railway section.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior railway official said, "The RDSO will conduct confirmatory oscillograph car runs (COCR) and special trials for the train, a part of which arrived at the Wadibunder yard at Sandhurst Road on Friday night. The COCR are conducted mainly to help trains run at a speed above 120kmph." The official further said when a train has to move up a steep ghat, additional locomotives were attached to the rear to give it the required push. However, since adding locomotives takes a lot of time, a train enabled with the push-pull system proves a lot more helpful in saving time.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates