Champaran HumSafar Express : इन अजनबी सी राहों में, जो तू मेरा हमसफ़र हो जाये, बीत जाए पल भर में ये वक़्त, और हसीन सफ़र हो जाये. - Piyush Singh

MUMBAI: Physically handicapped commuters have had an unexpected bonanza in terms of additional seating and standing arrangements in suburban trains due to conversion of Overhead Equipment (OHE) traction from Direct Current (DC) to Alternating Current (AC) on Western Railway (WR).Around three years ago, 64 DC compatible rakes were in use on WR. Since the motor and other equipment consumed a lot of space in DC rakes, less area was available for commuters in compartments reserved for handicapped.Sharat Chandrayan, chief PRO, WR said, "Many of these rakes were pulled out of service as they were more than 15 years old. The lesser ones were retrofitted and made compatible to ply on AC and DC traction.The conversion of the traction was an unexpected bonanza for people with disabilities since the railways decided to dedicate this freed-up space for them."The first trains to have an compartment exclusively reserved for ladies ran on WR on...
more...

Jan 26, 1993 .Apart from persons with disabilities, people suffering from cancer and pregnant women are also allowed to travel in these compartments.In the DC rakes, only nine seats were available in the compartment reserved for handicapped. After the introduction of Siemens and retrofitted rakes, commuters were provided with 19 seats. Equal number of standees were able to travel in these compartments. In older rakes, there was no room for standees and commuters travelled in a cramped space.Chandrayan said, "Compared to the old rakes, the new compartments have five times more space, apart from better ventilation and lighting arrangements. Earlier, the door of the compartment was only 1m in width as compared to the 4.7m width in the new rakes, allowing people to easily alight and board the train." the compartment had only 1 m of width as compared to 4.7 m of with in the new rakes allowing them easily alight and board the train."The new compartments have four alarm chain pulling as against only one in the older rakes. While 9-car rakes, which are mostly DC compatible, have one compartment reserved for handicaps, the 12- and 15-car trains have two and three compartments respectively.WR is carrying out work on the conversion of Over Head Equipment Traction from 1500 volts Direct Current system to 2500 kv Alternate current (AC) between Borivali and Churchgate.The last DC compatible track ran on the WR on a month ago. Once the AC power is activated on WR, it will hand over AC-DC dual compatible rakes to CR which in exchange give them 20 retrofed rakes compatible to ply on AC traction.