After discharging duties for over three decades and making the city proud for achieving a breakthrough with India’s first underground transport, the older non-air conditioned rakes of Kolkata Metro Railway have been sent on a new
journey of retirement.
According to sources, the commercial services of Kolkata Metro Railway are being operated with the help of 22 airconditioned rakes. The older non-AC rakes have been suspended from commercial runs and kept idle at the Noapara car shed.
Notably, the journey of the older non-AC rakes in Kolkata began in October 1984 when the city received a jewel in its crown by getting the country’s first underground metro service. However, about five months before the final commissioning of the first metro, the rakes were taken to the underground path by lowering the coaches with the help of cranes.
A few times, some of the non-ac rakes also underwent a makeover to give a tough competition to the air-conditioned coaches. The result was, the non-ac rakes worked extensively for years more than their codal life. In 2019, a state-of-the-art rake from Dalian in China was brought to the city. However, being still under trial, the Chinese rakes are yet to be trundled.
Now, after being a crucial part of the city’s lifeline for over 30 years, the non-AC rakes are all set to embark on a new set of duties and be used for trial runs in the upcoming metro corridors. Coaches of the rake that was chugged out for the first time during the inaugural run in 1984, is adorning the Rail Museum at Howrah.