Too hot, say local commuters without working fans, blowers

Central Railway has been getting complaints from passengers that most blower units in Siemens rakes are on the blink

Mumbai, 06/12/2015: One of the Commuter tries to catch fort winks in overcrowded suburban local train on Central Railway in Mumbai. Photo: Prashant Nakwe.

Mumbai: As the summers turn local train carriages into veritable hot boxes, commuters are complaining that blowers in Siemens rakes are not working most of the time.

Railways officials said complaints have come in about blowers and fans not working in a few rakes, but put down as ‘regular’ for the season. “The complaints, both written and via social media, have increased after we introduced the Siemens rake in 2007,” a Central Railway official (CR) said. Each Siemens rake has four blower units, of which two are kept on standby. “The temperature has been on the higher side in Mumbai in the last few days. Usually, we get the order to switch on all four blower units after mid-April. We are ensuring that all four units are in working condition when the trains come to the car shed,” the official added.

The CR has more Siemens rakes than the Western Railway; of the 122 rakes with CR, 89 are Siemens. According to authorities, Bombardier rakes have better ventilation than the Siemens ones. “The Siemens rake also develops technical glitches when the temperature is high, which delays other rakes,” said.

Packed to capacity

While each local train compartment has the capacity for 110 passengers, it ends up with over 400 passengers, which translates to nearly 5,000 commuters packed into a 12-car rake that was made to carry only 1,320 passengers. The suburban railway carries nearly 7.5 million passengers every day on the Central, Western and Harbour lines, which makes for around 14-16 passengers standing per square metre.

M. Ratish, a daily commuter who travels between Badlapur and Masjid, says Siemens rakes are the worst. “I have been commuting by train for nine years. After the Siemens rakes were introduced, non-functional blowers are a daily problem. During summers, many passengers feel dizzy. Rush hours are terrible when fans and blowers are not working.”

Shehzad Ansari, a Harbour Line traveller, said, “Most of the time, fans are not working. This is fine during winter and monsoons, but it’s difficult for passengers in summer.”

Narendra Patil, Chief PRO, CR, said, “We are keeping a tab on each and every rake when it completes its run.”