Rajdhani trial run won't push-pull your commute

The new Rajdhani Express. Pic/Ameya Amre

By the time you set out on your daily commute, the Central Railway should long be done with the preparatory trials on the new proposed Rajdhani Express with push-pull engines. The trial was planned for Thursday night to ensure that it does not affect normal train operations.

The final push-pull train mechanism will undergo trials on Monday, and this was merely the preparatory trial to get the train ready and ensure there are no snags during the actual trial next week, when the train will negotiate the tough Kasara Ghat section.

Usually when a train climbs the steep ghat, additional locomotives (called bankers) are added in the rear to push the rake. However since adding a locomotive takes time, a train enabled with push-pull system, that has locomotives on both sides, will prove to be immensely helpful and time-saving.

A team of senior officials from the Research, Standards and Design Organisation (RDSO), the technical consultant for Indian Railways, has arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday to conduct the trials that will include two powerful, WAP7-class locomotives on either side of the rake of 20 high-end coaches.

A senior official said the RDSO will conduct Confirmatory Oscillograph Car Runs (COCR) and Special Trials on the train. mid-day has been highlighting the lack of a single Rajdhani Express on Central Railway, even as the Western Railway is gearing up to add more to its fleet of two.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal recently announced that CR's first Rajdhani will pass through Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Kalyan, Nasik, Jalgaon, Khandwa, Bhopal, Jhansi, Agra, and Hazrat Nizamuddin.

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