Western Railway

Uttam rake

non-air-conditioned local train

Churchgate-Virar ladies special

Top: The first-class coaches will have high backrest seats; above left: Electronically operated passenger alarm system and (right) CCTVs that will be available in all coaches

Integral Coach Factory

South Central Railway

Second-class coaches will have fibre-reinforced plastic seats with wooden finishing

The brand new coach will run as a ladies’ special today and as a general service from tomorrow.Local train travel on the Western line is set for an upgrade, withready to introduce a state-of-theartfrom today. This will be the firston WR to have CCTV cameras in all coaches. Until now, the only non-AC coaches with CCTV cameras have been ladies’ coaches.Ravinder Bhakar, chief public relations officer, WR, said, “We are introducing the Uttam rake with improved exteriors and advanced features on an experimental basis. Further planning will be done for future production after taking feedback from commuters.” Today, the new rake will run as a, departing from Churchgate at 6.13 pm and reaching Virar at 7.57 pm. From tomorrow it will be introduced as a normal service that will run around 10 times a day, Bhakar added.Apart from CCTV cameras, the new rake comes with anti-dent partitions, modular luggage racks with more space, and seats with higher backrests in 1st class. Second-class coaches will have seats made from fibre-reinforced plastic (FPR) with a wood finish, and dual-lock windows. The new rake also has larger grab handles, which WR says are for better grip, but in reality will allow two people to use a single handle. It also comes with ared emergency button in place of the traditional chains, energy-saving fans, and diffused-light LED tubes.The ceiling is be made from smooth-finish corrugated FRP and the ventilation duct is covered with wood-finish FRP for better aesthetics. Steel protective plates near the seats will prevent the colour of the floor from fading due to friction from footwear. Lastly, the new rake will feature posters of different types of trains on WR, showing how they have been upgraded, as well as posters of various Mumbai landmarks and icons, including dabbawallas. The Uttam rake has been built at thein Chennai. Only two have been built so far; the other has been given to. WR, which celebrates the 69th anniversary of its foundation today, has around 110 rakes and runs 1,367 services daily, including 12 air-conditioned services and 54 services with 15 coaches. It caters to about 36 lakh passengers a day.