Commuters lose their cool over AC train cancellations

MUMBAI: Commuters of air-conditioned locals in both Western Railway (WR) and Central Railway (CR) are upset with the repeated instances of cancellation in their services, especially since they have paid a premium amount to avail the services.
On Wednesday, WR announced that it had cancelled 12 AC local services due to technical problem in the rake. WR runs a total of 79 AC services per day with 5 rakes; there was no standby rake available.
WR had announced to run one rake whose motors are fitted in the underslung, but it will take atleast a fortnight to get this rake introduced in service as some approvals are still pending.
On Monday, CR had cancelled a total of 14 AC services as there was an issue with the batteries of the rake.
Presently, CR has 5 AC rakes with which it runs 55 services. Of these five, 4 rakes are in service and one rake is kept as a spare for maintenance purprpose.
“There is system — Periodic Over Hauling (POH) — for which rakes need to be taken for maintenance. After withdrawing one rake for POH maintenance, the balance 4 are utilised for services,” said a CR official, adding that “any technical failure in any of the 4 rakes in service may lead to running of services with non-AC rakes.”
AC commuter Iqbal Sheikh tweeted, “At Mumbai Central station, 5.15pm Virar AC Local is replaced with a non-AC without any announcement. Such casual approach is condemned. Now whats the use of buying tickets for AC?”
Ghatkopar commuter Nirav Shah said, “We don’t see any issues with rakes on Metro. Either the parts provided in these AC rakes are not of superior quality or the maintenance practice is sub-standard.”
Borivali commuter Ashish Naik said, “They should’ve worked out all such scenarios before increasing the services as cancellation at the last minute causes immense frustration.”