By Apurva Bhatt

One of the most vexing technical issues for the Indian Railways— the conversion of Central Railway's electrical systems from 1,500-volt Direct Current to 2,500-volt Alternating Current — is now confronted with two essential questions for its train-runners — how the congested suburban system will be run if local trains have a speed limit of only 15 kilometres per hour over nine stretches between Kurla and CST, and how to ensure that no locomotive with height exceeding 4.27 metres ventures into the Kurla-CST section.

Commissioner of Railway Safety Chetan Bakshi has been studying the progress of the conversion for the last two nights, but several CR officials told dna that these two questions continue to haunt the Rs1,300-crore project which has been in the wings for two years.

"How can we even think of running suburban trains between Kurla and CST at 15kmph? The number of trains run per hour on the suburban system will reduce by 30%. In a crowded system like CR, this is unthinkable," said a senior CR official.

Talking about the height problem, he added, "Most of the new LHB coaches used in Duronto, Garib Rath etc, are above 4.27 metres, making them out of bounds at CST. Additionally, the motor coaches of the Siemens rakes also exceed this height, making their entry into CST an issue. Numerous diesel locomotives exceed this height because of their chimneys. In short, running trains from CST, one of the country's largest termini, will be a technical nightmare."

Bakshi told dna that the issues have been referred to CR and it is for the CR authorities to come up with a solution. "These are vital safety issues and the conversion can see the light of the day only after a solution is found," he said.

CR general manager SK Sood did not respond when asked for an inkling when the conversion will take place. Officials said the chances of the conversion getting postponed to after the monsoon is a very real possibility now.