The rail authorities of Mumbai have now demanded for stainless steel coaches for suburban trains, similar to those being manufactured for the long-distance ones. In fact, officials have shot off a letter to the World Bank urging them to finance all-steel trains under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) II. Rail minister Lalu Yadav had announced in the budget, in February, his intention to discontinue with old trains and gradually replace them with corrosion-free stainless steel rakes from next year. The stainless steel trains, run in all developed countries, needs less maintenance and has a much longer life than the iron-made ones. If Mumbai does get stainless steel trains, the city will have more services since these trains require much less repair or maintenance. At present, both Central Railway and Western Railway have 15% of their fleet in carsheds for maintenance at any given point of time. This might come down to 5% with steel trains, said officials.
