Taking cognisance of a few instances of water leakages from the roof and window cavities in express trains in recent days, the Railways has started addressing the problems.
A video clip of the leakage from the roof of one of the air-conditioned coaches of the Coimbatore-Mayiladuthurai Jan Shatabdi Express was widely circulated in social media.
In another instance, passengers complained of water seepage through window cavity of Mangalore Central-Coimbatore Intercity express (No. 22609), on Monday.
The workers looking after maintenance had pasted duct tape along the beadings of the windowpanes that were leaking, but it was not enough to plug the water seepage in the long-distance trains operated during continuous rain.
Some of the passengers were provided with alternative seating arrangements.
“Taking notice of the inconvenience faced by the passengers, we have taken initiatives to doubly ascertain there are no leakages through the roof through a testing process at the pit lanes in Coimbatore Junction where the trains are stationed well before the start of journey,” Divisional Railway Manager R.N. Sinha said.
Such leakages happen only in the air-conditioned coaches due to the presence of RMPU (Roof Mounted AC Unit), where the possibility exists for water seepage through the duct.
The coaches are sent for periodic overhaul to workshops once in one-and-a-half years when the scope for leakages are thoroughly examined and ruled out. Since the trains are parked in the open on the pit lanes, water gets accumulated in the tray of the RMPU units and starts seeping in when the train starts moving. When the rainfall is heavy, the water continues to get into the coaches.
