Expect sharp-nosed, faster trains in 2014

If everything goes as per the plan chalked out by the Railway authorities, then there is a possibility that commuters could travel in new-age zippy trains with sharper noses by 2014.

Sources said the trains would be handy for commuters travelling between Virar and Dahanu, once local trains start running between the two destinations, as they are 60 km apart and have only seven to eight stations between them.

The officials said sharper noses would bring down power consumption by 33 per cent.

"These will be aerodynamic trains. However, the noses of these trains wouldn't be very sharp," Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) Managing Director Rakesh Tandon said.

Of the 72 trains - 12-car each - the first one is expected to hit the tracks by the end of 2013 for a dry run. All the trains are expected to arrive by mid-2014 and will be manufactured under Phase II of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP).

Last week, the Railway authorities from Mumbai division visited officials at Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai and Research, Design and Standard Organisation (RDSO) in Lucknow to discuss the possibility of introducing the new suburban EMU train by the end of 2013.

"By using aerodynamic modelling, the new trains will be able to cut through the wind coming from opposite direction with ease, which normally hinders the speed of a normal train," a senior Railway official said.

They clarified that the sharpness will not be equivalent to the ones exhibited by the high-speed trains in European and Asian countries like Japan and China.

"In foreign countries, distance between two stations is a quite a bit and they can have sharp-nose trains which run at speeds beyond 300 kmph. In Mumbai, stations are close to each other and there is no need for such sharp-nosed trains," another official said.u00a0

Rs 5,300 cr
Total cost of Phase II of MUTP