The result is that for the past several Saturday's the CST-Ernakulam Duronto is being run with conventional coaches with lesser capacity and lesser comforts.
Railway ministry's policy on select workshops to repair LHB coaches to blame
The railway ministry's myopic decision of designating just a handful of railway workshops to repair, overhaul and maintain modern LHB coaches has now started affecting train operations. A month after the derailment of the CST-Ernakulam Duronto express near Madgaon in Goa, the LHB coaches of the train still lie in Central Railway's Kalamboli yard because the sole workshop in the western part of India to service these coaches – Western Railway's Lower Parel workshop – refuses to admit them out of turn.
The result is that for the past several Saturday's the CST-Ernakulam Duronto is being run with conventional coaches with lesser capacity and lesser comforts.
According to WR officials, the Lower Parel workshop has a capacity of servicing 42 air-conditioned LHB coaches every month but because of the long waiting list, looking-in at a rake out of turn is difficult.
"In four to five years the number of LHB coaches in the railway's fleet will be much higher and it is imperative that more workshops are designated for LHB overhaul now itself. This way by 2019 we will have better overhauling capacity or else in the months to some, more such problems will rise," said an official.
The railways has already decided that with the passage of time, more and more of its coaches will be of the LHB type. While these coaches come with greater passenger comfort and better riding qualities, their overhaul and repairs are a problem and delays cause the railways heavy financial losses.
As of now these coaches can be overhauled only at Lower Parel workshop in Mumbai, Liluah Workshop in Howrah, West Bengal and Jagadhri Workshop in Yamunanagar Haryana. Plans are afoot to build facilities for LHB overhaul at Lalguda Workshop in Secunderabad in Telengana and Dibrugarh workshop in Assam.
A dismal case highlighted by dna is that of a new Rs35-crore double-decker rake lying at WR's Vasai Yard since November last year. The rake is waiting for its overhaul at the Lower Parel workshop. It was used between Mumbai and Goa as part of the Ganpati season specials last year.
What is even more appalling about this CR-WR turf war is the fact that currently both WR and CR share the same general manager (SK Sood). "It just shows how rigid the railway hierarchy has become. All the talk since the new government came about a new style of functioning for the railways is unfortunately just talk," said an official.
A query sent to Hemant Kumar, Member (Mechanical) Railway Board went unanswered while calls to his Rail Bhavan Delhi office yielded no results as Kumar was busy with some meetings.
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