Thousands of commuters on Western Railway's suburban line have been forced to travel in semi-dark coaches as many of the tube lights in them are malfunctioning regularly. Apart from the inconvenience it causes to commuters, officials acknowledged that such situations could also be a security risk, especially in late-night trains.
Rajiv Singal, member of the divisional railway users consultative committee, who has been sending messages as well as letters to the authorities about the issue, told dna that it just showed the deteriorating standards of WR which was once considered among the better administered zones in the railway network. Singal, who generally travels between Marine Lines and Borivli, said the issue has been going on for almost two months now, but for the past few days has reached very irritable levels.
"It's mostly the first-class coaches but I'm sure it is happening in all coaches. It is plain incomprehensible that the railway would allow something like this to happen for such a long time without looking for remedies. In the past few days, I have intimated this to the divisional electrical officials as well as higher authorities like the divisional railway manager and general manager several times. However, the response has not been what I envisaged," Singal told dna.
Singal told this paper that in a reply to one of his messages, WR general manager Hemant Kumar explained that the problem was rising out of the shortage of some components and a total of 2,500 tube lights are involved. Singh said that Kumar promised to rectify the problem in the "next 5 to 6" days.
"It's really unfortunate that the standards of Mumbai's suburban system, among the world's biggest, is falling so alarmingly. During monsoons, the trains leak. During other times either the fans or the tube lights are not functioning. The talk of bullet trains, air-conditioned locals is of no use if basic passenger amenities like these cannot be resolved," said Dharmesh Shinde, a regular commuter on WR's suburban network.
When contacted, Shailendra Kumar, DRM, WR, said, "There was a shortage of an item called 'electronic ballast'. We have made arrangement for this item and in the next couple of days supplies will come in. By early next week this problem will be solved."
Electronic Ballast is a device which controls the starting voltage and the operating currents of lighting devices built on the principle of electrical gas discharge. It refers to that part of the circuit which limits the flow of current through the lighting device.
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