Suburban railway commuters await a New year gift, as the Central Railway prepares to operate the first-ever Air-conditioned suburban local on January 1, 2020.
“The first Air-conditioned EMU (Electrical Multiple Unit) local train has arrived in our yard. It will be a New Year gift for our commuters. This AC EMU train has 12 cars fully air-conditioned including driving cabs,”, a Central Railway spokesperson said here on Tuesday.
“A motor woman will in all likelihood operate the AC local on its maiden run,” the spokesperson added.
The AC local has been manufactured by ICF (Integral Coach Factory) Chennai, which has made a new breed of indigenous air-conditioned EMU train set.
The salient features of the new local include: AC system for passengers comprising 2 X 15 ton capacity roof mounted package units (RMPU) for air conditioning in each coach, provision of an EMU rake with secondary air suspension with two air bellows, provided on each bogie, availability of a Passenger Address & Passenger Information system (PAPIS), a GPS based information system for passenger with intercom facility and LED Based Coach identification system for Alarm chain pulling & Door malfunctioning.
Among the safety features for commuters, the local has an electrically-operated automatic door closure system, Emergency Talk Back (ETU) system which is a part of PAPIS and a manual door opening system in each coach that can be accessed.
