OCTOBER 19:State-of-the-art locomotives recently acquired by the Central Railway (CR) to power its services on to a faster track have, ironically, resulted in major disruptions in the suburban section. Twenty-three WCAM3 locos leased from the Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited in October 1996, failed 48 times in September alone, disrupting suburban traffic. Touted to be economical in power consumption, the locos have a power brake facility and can be operated on both AC and DC power supply. Yet, in the last six months, they have tripped up on 76 occasions.Officials say the regularity of disruptions on the suburban line due to these failures has thwarted all attempts by CR authorities to run their trains on schedule. On Thursday, the static invertor (power supply regulator) in the WCAM3 on the 1064 Chennai Express at Ghatkopar failed in peak hours. Earlier on October 13, suburban traffic was disrupted for two hours due to a similar problem in the 7032 down Hyderabad Mumbai Express, and again in the 7002 Up Hussainsagar Express between Talegaon and Vadgaon on October 15, which predictably disrupted rail traffic on the Mumbai-Pune sector. The trains had to be ``bunched'' together, and many trains had to be diverted on other lines, drastically affecting punctuality.CR spokesperson Rakesh Saxena said the matter was constantly being taken up with BHEL to carry out modifications in the engines and reduce failures. A K Jain, senior manager,BHEL claimed, ``Barring minor problems which are attended to by BHEL engineers regularly, the locos have registered 90 per cent availability. We have already delivered 24 locos and are in the process of commissioning the 25th one.'' s m¬Ut›è>¼Tt›ed. Ramesh Ojha, a life member of the library, said the decision would benefit the public.
