From Shanghai to Mumbai
The very first batch of Metro rakes set sail from China, to reach city next month
Take a good look at this gleaming silver rake. It will be your first-ever metro when services are launched between Versova to Ghatkopar in December this year. Having missed their January deadline, these rakes, manufactured by China's CSR Nanjing Phuzen Rolling Stock Company, have finally been shipped from the port of Shanghai on Tuesday. And come mid-April, they will have made way to the metro car shed at Andheri. Once in, they will be put to site specific, static and dynamic tests including dimensional, braking, emergency braking and speed tests. Says KP Maheshwari, director, Mumbai Metro One Private Ltd (MMOPL), "Extensive tests have already been carried out in China. If we find the need for any modifications emerging out of Mumbai's typical climatic condition, we will ensure those changes are made back there for the remaining rakes, which should also in by October." The initial plan is to run 16 trains of four coaches each, which can be later increased to 18 with six coaches.
The initial deadline set by MMOPL for the close to 12-km line was July 2010. But several issues of land acquisition and co-ordination with the railways have led to delays. "We are confident about meeting the December 2010 target," emphasises Maheshwari.
WHAT'S SPECIAL ABOUT OUR METRO
• Each rake has been made of nontoxic material. More people die because of the toxic fumes generated within a locomotive rather than the fire itself. The body is made of stainless steel with aluminium panels inside, which are non-combustible instead of Fibre Reinforced Plastic generally used in locomotives.
• Each coach will have a separate emergency exit, fire alarms and inbuilt censors, a switch-button enabling driver-passenger communication in times of crisis and dynamic route maps.
• The coaches will also have CCTVs — footage recorded will be monitored live by the main control room at the operation control building at DN Nagar (Andheri).
• Like the Delhi metro, air-conditioning will be provided by two converters, but thanks to an advanced technology, in case one shuts down, the other will provide optimal air-conditioning to all the coaches.