The first major task is shifting Central Railway’s electrical system from direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC) between Thane and CST. It is the only stretch on Indian Railways where trains operate on the antiquated DC system. The conversion project has got delayed by almost three years. Last month, Central Railway completed the project and carried out tests; now, the railway safety commissioner must now give his clearance before Central Railway can roll out the system. Prabhu, handpicked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, can help cut the red tape and move Central Railway to AC system at the earliest. The conversion has two distinct advantages. First, it will reduce incidents of pantographs getting stuck in the overhead wires. The current pantographs are designed to draw power from both AC and DC systems, but such design leads to pantographs getting stuck while switching from one system to another. Second, Central Railway...
more... operates coaches older than 30 years, while law mandates they should be scrapped after 25 years. However, Central Railway is unable to replace them because they can run on both AC and DC systems. The new coaches from the integrated coach factory in Chennai can run only on AC systems. Another reason for breakdowns is the maintenance backlog in absence of sufficient time and money. Railway maintenance work is supposed to be conducted in the brief three hours in the night when the network is closed for suburban traffic. However, during these hours too, goods trains to and from Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru port use the network,
-----------------------------------------------------------------
why railways is delaying DC to AC conversion work that missed many deadlines of CR mainline strectch between thane to CSTM / harbour line / trans-harbour line ?
bcz of this glitches disruption of services, technical failures, fire in emu motor, pantograph entangle happens many times