Rlys blow up Rs.40cr on wrong tech
Commuters say the blowers on the new trains are ineffective
Mumbai's 70 lakh commuters are travelling in the October heat despite the railways spending over Rs 40crore on a "special provision" of providing blowers on each train to keep them cool.
The Rs 20crore new-age violet trains have been installed with a "state-of-the-art" ventilation system that involves powerful blowers at a cost of Rs 4lakh per coach, taking the cost to Rs 48lakh for a 12-car train. Over 1,000 new coaches have arrived in Mumbai, installed with this feature, taking the total cost to over Rs 40crore.
The Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) that was co-ordinating the project was instrumental in getting this new technology. The blowers should be pumping 14,535 cubic metres of air per hour in each coach.
Railway officials say the design of the ventilation system is such that the blowers will function only if the train carries a full load. "The blowers will not function at all if there are less than 50 passengers in a coach. It will function, if there are more than 200 to 250 commuters at any given time," a top official added.
"I travel by local train every day and never find the blowers working. There is just noise. The normal fans are more powerful," said Subhash Gupta, former member of the National Railway Users Consultative Committee.
The authorities claimed that they had conducted trials and a series of cardio tests during rush hour, and a mock coach had been prepared at the Integral Coach Factory to test the technology before it was implemented.
MRVC's chief operations manager Prakash Rao Vazalwar said, "The responsibility of regular maintenance of new trains and their accessories was now with the Central and Western Railway."
Commuters say the blowers on the new trains are ineffective
Mumbai's 70 lakh commuters are travelling in the October heat despite the railways spending over Rs 40crore on a "special provision" of providing blowers on each train to keep them cool.
The Rs 20crore new-age violet trains have been installed with a "state-of-the-art" ventilation system that involves powerful blowers at a cost of Rs 4lakh per coach, taking the cost to Rs 48lakh for a 12-car train. Over 1,000 new coaches have arrived in Mumbai, installed with this feature, taking the total cost to over Rs 40crore.
The Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) that was co-ordinating the project was instrumental in getting this new technology. The blowers should be pumping 14,535 cubic metres of air per hour in each coach.
Railway officials say the design of the ventilation system is such that the blowers will function only if the train carries a full load. "The blowers will not function at all if there are less than 50 passengers in a coach. It will function, if there are more than 200 to 250 commuters at any given time," a top official added.
"I travel by local train every day and never find the blowers working. There is just noise. The normal fans are more powerful," said Subhash Gupta, former member of the National Railway Users Consultative Committee.
The authorities claimed that they had conducted trials and a series of cardio tests during rush hour, and a mock coach had been prepared at the Integral Coach Factory to test the technology before it was implemented.
MRVC's chief operations manager Prakash Rao Vazalwar said, "The responsibility of regular maintenance of new trains and their accessories was now with the Central and Western Railway."
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