By Apurva Bhatt

The power system upgradation on Central Railway (CR) will have some shocking results for commuters delayed trains and large-scale cancellation of services which will result in locals being even more crowded. The reason? the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) has deemed that the speed of trains at nine spots between Thane and CST cannot surpass 15 kmph when the new 25,000-volt system is put to use. According to officials, this restriction will force them to slash 40 services an hour during peak hours, a massive cut for the already overcrowded suburban line. Remarks Saurabh Shah, a commuter from Sion, “The trains are running 15 to 20 minutes slow, and now when the rains start it will be even more slower. What’s the use of power upgrade

The nine spots where the trains were supposed to slow down had low-hanging bridges. Ojha refused to elaborate as to what exactly was done to solve that issue. A senior officer, however, said they had worked out a dual solution to save the day. 

"The conversion had to happen and the only problem was the height of the bridges. We adopted a two-pronged approach. We tried to lower the tracks at some locations and worked on dishing out the roof of Siemens local trains. We have also posted the staff where the problems have been rectified, so that the train movement continues to be monitored," he said. 

Explaining the process of roof dishing, the official said the base of the pantograh is lowered, so that it gets more vertical height. The problem is faced quite frequently on the CR line, as many bridges are very low in the CST-Thane section. The official said the monsoon flooding issue has also been taken care of. High-powered pumps and water-proof signalling equipment called digital axle counters have been placed at the locations that have been lowered.