Roof-top travelling in Mumbai suburban trains will be fatal

MUMBAI, February7 2012: Exactly 84 years after the first electric train was operated on the Western Railway, between Borivili and Churchgate, using 1,500 volt direct current (DC) system, the busy corridor linking Mumbai’s western suburbs to the heart of the city went in for a complete switchover to 25,000 volt alternate current (AC) on Sunday.“This is a historic moment for Western Railway,” said Mahesh Kumar, general manager, Western Railway. “We have done away with the eight-decade-old DC system and switched to the power-saving, non-polluting and powerful AC traction system.” But for the hundreds of roof-top travellers who perch overhead during the peak hours, the new system can spell disaster. Any commuter coming within two metres of the overheard wire could be grabbed by the system and charred to death within seconds. For the three million-plus commuters who travel along this busy corridor — Mumbai has a second, parallel suburban railway corridor, Central Railway, which also serves more than three million commuters daily — the changeover means faster trains and improved frequencies. While the 1,500 volt DC traction saw trains go at a maximum speed of 80 km per hour, the new system will accelerate speeds up to 120 km per hour. While India’s financial and commercial capital was the first in the country to see trains run on electric traction way back in 1925, it ranks among the last in India to switchover to the 25 KV (25,000 volt) AC system, which ensures faster speed for trains. Strangely, though Mumbai’s suburban system carries the maximum number of passengers daily in the Indian Railways network — and contributes significantly to its revenues — the authorities introduced DC traction system nearly 55 years after it was introduced in the country. The first 25,000 volt AC electrified section was completed on the Burdwan-Mughalsarai sector in eastern India in 1957. Conversion of Mumbai’s suburban system was taken up only in the mid-1990s, with the railways going in for conversion on shorter routes.