Overview
- The 12-car prototype, which reached Kurla Carshed on Monday, was built by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai and now faces mandatory RDSO certification before commuters can board.
- The door system opens in about three seconds and closes in roughly four, uses obstruction detection, and includes an interlock that prevents the train from moving until every door is shut.
- Engineers widened windows to about 1,900 mm, added louvred door panels, and upgraded roof blowers to roughly 10,000 cubic metres of air per hour to keep air flowing in crowded, closed coaches.
- The rake seats 1,003 and is designed for a total load of around 5,600 passengers, and it adds safety gear such as fire detection, anti-drag doors, modified alarm safeguards, and emergency talk-back units.
- Trials may begin on the less crowded Nerul–Uran corridor, and officials say public rollout could take about three months, a step driven by last June’s Mumbra tragedy and years of fall-from-door deaths on open-door non-AC locals.