Duonto-Media Reports

AC mishap in 3 Duronto coaches

By: Vedika Chaubey and Shrikant Kupekar Date: 2010-11-19 Place: Mumbai

Passengers travelled from Nagpur to city for 14 hours without air-conditioning It seems that the premium Duronto trains are not living up to their reputation these days. On Wednesday, passengers of three AC compartments of the Nagpur-Mumbai Duronto Express were made to travel for over 14 hours without air-conditioning. "This is supposed to be the fastest train but the journey is a pain when the facilities are not working," said Yogesh Thakkar, a passenger. According to the passengers, the AC in the train stopped working as the train left Nagpur at 8.25 pm on Wednesday. The affected compartments were B1, B2 and B3. "Since the AC wasn't working, we decided to pull the chain after half an hour and complain about the problem. The officials promised to resolve it at Wardha Station," said 51-year-old Thakkar, who was travelling with his wife Rupal in coach B3. The passengers found it unbearable to stay inside the coach since there was no air circulation. However the train did not stop at Wardha. "So we pulled the chain and some officials came with engineers. They tried to fix the problem but couldn't. Again they told us to wait till Budnera," Thakkar added. Uday Patel, another passenger from the same coach said, "It was very suffocating inside the coach. The journey was so uncomfortable. I had taken this train so that I could sleep peacefully through the night but it turned into a nightmare instead." Alternate option At Budnera station, Additional Divisional Railway Manager R J Meena attempted to fix the problem with some officers but in vain. With no options left, Meena then suggested removing the glass of emergency windows. Four windows of B3 and two windows of B1 coaches were removed, causing a delay of about three hours. If passengers are to be believed, this is not the first time a mishap like this has occurred. On November 9, just after the train had left from CST, it had to be pulled back from Sandhurst Road to have its AC repaired. The Other Side Sriniwas Mudgerikar, Chief PRO, Central Railway, said, "The air-conditioning of a three-tier coach of Nagpur- CST Duronto express was not cooling properly because of which emergency windows were opened." "Duronto coaches have recently been received by Central Railway from RCF (Rail Coach Factory) at Kapurthala. We have informed them about these teething problems and they are sending a team of officers to investigate and rectify these problems," Mudgerikar added.