Double-decker AC train to Mumbai won't come this year

The wait for the superfast double-decker air-conditioned train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad is going to get longer as the railways will not be able to introduce this service in this financial year as promised in the railway budget for the financial year 2011-2012.The first double-decker AC train between Howrah and Dhanbad was flagged off from Howrah station on October 1, 2011. An announcement was made in the 2011-12 railway budget that this service will be introduced on the Pune-Ahmedabad and Jaipur-Delhi routes.A senior railway official said, "The design of the coaches is undergoing modification. When the train was introduced on the Howrah-Dhanbad route, the maximum moving dimension of the train infringed with the platforms at many stations. So the platforms had to be modified and trains are now running five times a week on the Howrah-Dhanbad route. It has 9 coaches, including 7 AC double-decker chair cars and two generator cars.According to the plan, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad train was originally scheduled to run before February 2012. The official said, "The width of the original coach was as per the permissible limit. But after the experience on Howrah-Dhanbad route, it has been decided to reduce changes in the design of the coach so that a similar problem does not occur on other routes."The train has been designed by Research Development and Standards Organisation ( RDSO). It was manufactured at the Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala. The width of the double-decker coach on the Howrah-Dhanbad route is 3,123 MM. The railways has decided to reduce the width on coaches to be used on other routes to 3,050 MM.The carrying capacity of the doubledecker coach is 128 passengers-almost 70% higher than that of the Shatabdi chair car coach, which can accommodate 78 passengers.The official said, "Once the coaches are redesigned, trial runs of the rake will be carried out. Thereafter, an approval of the chief commissioner of railway safety will have to be obtained. This process is time-consuming and hence, there is no chances of this service running in this financial year."