Mumbai: City trains turn 100; will there be a party?

The first electric train running between Victoria Terminus and Kurla

Mumbai's lifeline the electric local train is completing a centenary in February 2025 and retired rail officials, enthusiasts, and engineers are writing to the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to commemorate the occasion in a grand manner.

Indian Railways is also marching towards 100 per cent electrification of its railway network and as per the latest update, 95 per cent is done. India's first railway electric train ran on Tuesday, February 3, 1925. It ran between Bombay (Victoria Terminus) and Kurla, a distance of 16 km, and was opened by the Bombay Governor Sir Leslie Orme Wilson. The power was to be supplied by the Tatas, while the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) built its in-house power-generating plant at Thakurli. All inputs for electrification, except power supply, were imported from various companies in England.

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Railway veteran Dr PC Sehgal, who was the former managing director of Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC), recalled that in the mid-70s, there were wooden-bodied local trains and the changes over the years have been overwhelming.

MRVC MD, Sehgal was instrumental in getting the new class violet local trains in Mumbai after conversion from the old 1500V DC to 25kv. "Life in the commercial capital city of India cannot be sustained without the existence of suburban trains fondly known as 'Lifeline of the city of Mumbai'. During the last 100 years, the suburban railway system in Mumbai has undergone technological upgradation from wooden to stainless steel bodies, increasing length from three to 15 cars, upgradation from 1500VDC to 25kV AC, use of energy-efficient three-phase traction technology with regeneration of power capacity, introduction of Auxiliary Warning System on trains, a system that provides advance notification of upcoming signal aspects to the motorman via a display panel in the driving cab and introduction of air-conditioned local trains. The centenary should be commemorated in a grand manner," Dr Sehgal said.

"The year was 1925, on February 3, 10 am a moment which witnessed the commencement of a swifter and cleaner mode of Railway Traction namely Railway Electric Traction on entire Indian Railways. India became the 24th country in the world, 3rd in Asia, and the 1st in the British Empire to adopt Electric Traction on its Railways. It has been a historic day and a game-changer for Indian Railways," avid electric railway fan Kaushik Dharwadkar said.

"Local trains as such have been running in Mumbai since 1853, and in the mid-1860s, the Bombay, Baroda & Central India Railway (now, WR) also announced a suburban train timetable, but in the true sense, the local train of today came to birth in 1925 with the Kurla-VT train. It was the first passenger electric train in India. On WR, electric trains came in 1928. But we need to commemorate the centenary for sure," another rail fan said.