Central Railway (CR) on Tuesday said its first air-conditioned (AC) suburban local will be operated by two motorwomen – Mumtaz Kazi and Manisha Maske.
“The two motorwomen will be trained along with 100 other employees to operate the new local, which will be functional by mid-January after trial runs. The staff who were trained on the currently-operational AC local of the Western Railway, were taught to operate the software, automatic closing doors and the AC system of the train,” said Shalabh Goel, CR’s divisional railway manager.
The local is likely to operate between Thane and Panvel, Panvel and Vashi railway stations on the Trans-Harbour line. The routes will be finalised after consultations with passenger associations. One such meeting between the associations and CR officials will be held on Wednesday.
The AC local is currently stationed at the Kurla railway car shed, where it will undergo trial runs. All new trains undergo a set of trials, known as static trials, which are conducted at the car shed itself. “We will also install closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras inside the women’s compartment,” Goel said. CCTV cameras will also be installed outside the motorman’s cabin to curb incidents of stone pelting.
CR received its first AC local from Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai four days ago. The train had to undergo modifications owing to the height of the British-era road overbridges (ROB) on CR route. The zonal railway will get six more AC locals in the future, of which one will be received by March 2020.
