Four new air-conditioned Metro rakes that had flunked multiple trials over 18 months before receiving the mandatory safety clearance in December have had their deployment delayed by the fire incident involving a first-generation train from the same factory, sources said.
Railway officials said the AC rake that caught fire between Rabindra Sadan and Maidan stations on December 27 might have made the Railway Board doubly wary about the performance of the new trains that came out of the Integral Coach Factory in Perambur, Tamil Nadu.
The Commissioner of Railway Safety had cleared the four rakes for deployment through a communication to the Railway Board on December 10, sources in the railway ministry said.
But Metro Railway, which will operate the rakes, has yet to receive the go-ahead from the Railway Board to add them to the commercial fleet.
The directorate of metropolitan transport projects in the Railway Board would earlier decide when to deploy a new rake. “This time, other directorates are involved. The process of clearance has to go through them,” a railway official said.
Although the process appears to have taken the back seat following the fire incident, the Railway Board’s green signal is expected to come in a couple of weeks.
Metro Railway is currently operating with one AC rake less than its usual fleet strength. The one that caught fire is the oldest among the 13.
Several commuters got injured that day while jumping out through windows that had been smashed to let in air after smoke entered the compartments.
Sources in the transport lifeline said the rake was still in the maintenance depot.
The first two of the four new rakes manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory had arrived in July 2017. A series of trials since then revealed various technical problems, including alleged flaws in the design.
The rakes were also found to be generating higher radio frequency waves than permissible, which can impair the Metro signalling system along with mobile phone and television transmission.
Metro engineers said the primary spring above the wheels was also prone to frequent snags.
“Water was found to be leaking through some of the sealed windows. There was also water leakage from the air-conditioners,” an official said.
Experts from the Lucknow-based Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), owned by the railways, had been called for troubleshooting. Once these problems were sorted out and the RDSO gave its clearance, the Commissioner of Railway Safety conducted an inspection.
Sources said the rakes coming with a history of teething problems had led the railway authorities to fear more snags and disruption during the first phase of their commercial run.
Snags had become almost a daily hassle for Metro Railway and regular commuters after the first batch of AC rakes joined the ageing fleet in 2010. Doors either not closing or working in sync was among the common inconveniences.
The Telegraph
