Rakes
A bulk of the current fleet of both the Western and Central railways features old rakes which are capable of a maximum speed of 85 km/h in regular service. Most of these rakes are built by Jessop (Kolkata) and ICF (Perambur). The recently introduced AC/DC rakes (more modern motors in the existing carriage designs) are capable of 100 km/h under low traffic conditions. The actual average speed of the rakes on the slow lines is about 35 km/h, while rakes on fast lines average about 45–50 km/h on a typical run.
On November 12, 2007, 1st rake of 129 new 12-coach rakes with upgraded facilities was inducted into the fleet of the Western Railways under the MUTP project. The coaches are built of stainless steel, and have non-cushioned seats, emergency fluorescent lights, bigger windows with polycarbonate lookout glass, better suspension systems and a novel roof mounted forced ventilation system, station indicators in all coaches, GPS based Public information system in all coaches.The new rakes are much more cool and airy, than the old EMU. The engine of the new rakes also makes less amount of noise than the older ones. This is a great advantage for the people living near the railway,as the old rakes made much more noise. Since,2010 the front of the EMUs are painted yellow, so that the maintenance workers on the tracks can see the train from far distances and act accordingly. These rakes have been procured under the project at a total cost of Rs 1,900 crore (Rs 19 billion) (USD 431.0 million).
As on Sep 2010, 102 out of 129 new trains have been delivered to Mumbai Suburban Railway. Total cost of this project is 5,300 crore (US$964.6 million)
On 25 July 2012, Central Railway announced it was introducing trains with cushion seats in second class compartments. Cushion seats have been fixed on all the white and purple coloured EMU rakes by an in-house team of Matunga workshop. The difference between first and second class seats is that they have four-inch density and two-inch density respectively.
The cushion has been made of rubberized coir material which is fire retardant. The seat cover is made of artificial leather similar to ones used in the first class compartment. Coir is tough, durable and can spring back to shape even after constant use. Coir is cheaper compared to rubber foam or polyurethane material, which is being used for making cushion seats in first class compartments.
A nine-car train has a seating capacity of 876 and 1,752 standees — a total of 2,628. A 12-car train can seat 1,168 and accommodate 2,336 standees that is a total of 3,504 passengers and a 33% rise in carrying capacity compared to a nine-car train.
Read more about this topic: Mumbai Suburban Railway