Western Railway achieved an important milestone on 5th February, 2012 by converting 84 years old 1500 Volts DC traction system to 25000 Voltes AC traction system upto Churchgate. With this conversion, Churchgate station, most important terminus of Western Railway's suburban section, is connected to 25000 Volts AC traction system. At one point of time, it was considered an impossible task because of the complicated infrastructure of Mumbai Suburban section but Railway Engineers made it possible through meticulous planning, latest technology and without affecting the day to day running of suburban trains.
This milestone feat is going to complete one year on 5th February, 2013. Due to this conversion, the Mumbai Suburban section has been integrated with 25000 Volts AC traction of Indian Railway enabling seamless connectivity of long distance Mail/Express trains also with the rest of the country.
If we look back, the Alternating Current system has proved beneficial in many aspects.
Benefit to the passengers:
Due to DC to AC conversion of Churchgate – Virar section, the loco changeover of Mail/Express long distance trains at Vadodara is no more required. This has resulted in speeding up of nearly 100 long distance trains up to 2 hrs.
On suburban system, due to increased capacity, Western Railway has been able to augment 76 nine-car services to twelve-car services in last one year, which means an introduction of 25 new 9-car services per day. Western Railway has also introduced 36 new suburban services in last one year including 34 twelve-car and two 15-car services. It has helped in increasing the carrying capacity of the lifeline of Mumbai.
Energy Saving:
Due to DC to AC conversion, Energy losses in distribution have been reduced to a great extent. As 21 DC substations early, there are now only 4 AC substations under the 25000 Volts AC system. Also the maintenance of AC traction is much less and economical compared to DC traction system. As a result, Western Railway has been able to achieve a saving of Rs.18.74 Cr on energy bill. This also results in less production of harmful CO2 emission in the electricity generating station. The saving in energy consumption has also been due to utilization of latest state-of-the-art technology, 3 phase induction motor and regenerating braking on EMU rakes. The average monthly energy consumption has come down from 25.08 million KWH in 2011-12to 23.22 million KWH in 2012-13.
Western Railway plans to add another 50 new suburban services which will include more 15-car trains and Ladies Special.
