25 July,2022 08:09 AM IST | Mumbai | Rajendra B. Aklekar
One of the AC locals after the paint job
The Central Railway is painting all its AC local trains' 'faces' yellow like regular local trains, to make them more visible. The action comes as gang men and those working on tracks said that they could not spot the trains approaching from far due to their silver face. From the commuter's point of view, the yellow colour looks more attractive and appealing.
"It is being done as a safety feature. Earlier, we did not have a spare train, as once the colour is changed, it requires a few days to dry. But now that one has arrived, we can use them in cycles and have begun work on painting the faces of AC trains yellow. We have taken up two and the rest will be done as early as possible," a senior official said.
Also read: Mumbai: Central Railway gets its sixth AC local train
"It is safety plus aesthetics. The train will look more attractive with this blue and yellow shade and the railways should come up with brighter colours," a commuter association member said. When the new Siemens trains had arrived in Mumbai, all of them had a black colour, which also led to sighting issues for approaching trains with trackmen, after which the faces of all local trains were converted into bright yellow.
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The first AC local in Mumbai had started on December 25, 2017 on Western Railway. Pre-pandemic, one AC local train had been inducted in regular service on Central Railway's trans-harbour line, but was discontinued due to the lockdown. Subsequently, AC local train services were introduced on the harbour line. But later it was found that the harbour and trans-harbour line services were not garnering enough response, as CR was unable to run them in peak hours, etc. due to capacity constraints. It was then decided to focus on the main line and all AC services were shifted to it.
While a normal 12-car local train carries 3,504 passengers with 1,168 sitting and 2,336 standees, the AC local train with vestibules can ferry about 6,500 passengers. At present, CR runs 56 daily services with six trains,, and WR has 32 services with four trains.
