Metro-1 grapples with technical faults

The Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) claims to have been consistently maintaining punctuality of 98-99 per cent on the Versova -Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro-1 corridor. But, in the meanwhile, it has been grapling with several other issues like increasing technical failures in the Chinese rolling stock (coaches). In the first six months of this year alone, these technical failures have almost doubled when compared to the corresponding period in 2016.

While a total of 24 failures in rolling stock were reported in 2016, the figure touched 22 in just the first six months of this year.

According to data from the monthly reports prepared by the Independent Engineer (IE) of Metro-1, a joint venture between Sener and ACPL, there were around 13 failures in the Chinese Rolling Stock in the first six months of 2016 between January and June. In the second half of 2016, the number of failures in Chinese rolling stock went down to around 11 failures.

However, the number of failures doubled in the first six months of 2017, between January and June, to around 22 failures.

The failures were many — sudden incidents of automatic doors of the Metro failing to open or close, non-operational headlights, the emergency mode setting off on its own, leaking battery cells etc.

In one such incident, both headlights of a Metro car were found to be not working. In one of its monthly reports, the IE recorded that one trip was delayed as the pilot on February 19, 2017 reported that both headlights were not working.

"Even after resetting, the fault persisted. Hence, walkway lights were switched on and train was moved with restricted speed in available visibility condition," the Monthly Report for February 2017 reads.

The highest number of Rolling Stock failures between the period of January 2016 and June 2017 was in the month of June 2017. Around six technical failures were witnessed in Rolling Stock of Metro-1. Doors failing to open and train brakes not releasing, trains not getting traction above 5-kmph were few of the reasons for the highest number of failures.

A total of 10 trips were delayed, and two trips were cancelled in June 2017 owing to approximately six failures related to Rolling Stock. The lowest number of Rolling Stock failures was one in February 2016, March 2016, July 2016, August 2016 and October 2016.

The Rolling Stocks for Metro-1 were procured from M/s CSR, Nanjing China. The configuration of each Rolling Stock is of four coach rakes, extendable up to six coaches in future, and the fleet size is 16. The air-conditioned Rolling Stock of Metro-1 is designed with a speed limit of 80-kmph and the operating speed to 50-kmph.

Punctuality maintained at 98-99 per cent despite problems

Despite the technical glitches or failures in its rolling stock, signalling and telecommunications the operations of Metro-1 have not been affected. The Metro-1 has maintained a punctuality average of 98-99 per cent in terms of running actual services when compared with planned services.

Between January 2016 and March 2016 around 31,019 services were planned to be operated, and MMOPL ran one surplus service in the same period, that is 31,020 services.

Further between April 2016 and June 2016, MMOPL ran 31,311 services against the planned 31,320 services which means a deficit of running nine less services.

Between July 2016 and September 2016, MMOPL ran a total of 31,548 services whereas the same number of services were planned to be run between the above mentioned period. Between October 2016 and December 2016, MMOPL ran a total of 31,558 services .

Signalling failures double but escalator troubles dip this yr

Not only failures of the rolling stock, the Metro-1 corridor has also been hit by technical failures that are crucial for the operation of the Metro corridor. These include signalling failures, telecommunication failures, faults in the escalators and lifts on the Metro station, along with failures of the Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) gates.

According to the data accessed exclusively by DNA, there were around 45 failures relating to the signalling of Metro-1 between the period of January 2016 and June 2016. These failures doubled in the second half, with 103 signalling failures between the period of July 2016 and December 2016.

In the first half of 2017, there were around 93 signalling failures reported between the period of January 2017 and June 2017. This takes the total number of signalling failures between January 2016 and June 2017 to around 241.

The highest number of signalling failures were reported in the months of October 2016 and June 2017, with the total failures being around 35 and 28 respectively. The lowest number of signalling failures reported were around three in May 2016.

Further, there were around 675 telecommunication failures reported between January 2016 and June 2017. Between the same period, around 74 failures were reported in the radio of Metro pilot that is part of telecommunication failures. The radio is used by the Metro pilot for contacting and coordinating between the Metro stations and Metro control room.

The highest number of 10 failures in the radio system were reported in September 2016, and the lowest of two failures in March-April and May 2017. Around 448 failures were reported in the CCTV cameras that are installed at Metro stations and depot.

Topping the list of failures are the automatic fare collection (AFC) gates, which is where the commutes swipe their tokens or smart cards for accessing the way towards the Metro.

Birds snapping overhead wire a major issue

The services of Metro-have been affected several times due to birds snapping the overhead wires that supply power to the rolling stock.

According to the data given by IE for Metro-1, 86 failures due to bird snapping were reported between January 2016 and October 2016. The highest number of 23 failures were reported in April 2016.

In one such case, on February 23, 2017, 38 Metro services were cancelled and two were delayed after a breakdown of overhead wire was reported near Azad Nagar Metro station. "The overhead wire breakdown was due to the bird fault between the return conductor and anti-creep wire, which resulted in parting of both conductors," reads the monthly report prepared by IE in March 2017.

"Anti-bird devices/ methods maybe developed and implemented on experimental basis," reads one of the suggestions given to MMOPL by the IE.

'Our process ensures that faults don't become failures'

While the IE's monthly reports term them technical 'failures', MMOPL maintains that these are 'faults', all of which are recorded irrespective of magnitude, so that they can be rectified immediately.

When contacted, A Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL), spokesperson said, "The number of faults depends on the traffic, and MMOPL is taking corrective action for the same. If the number of faults has gone up over last year, it is solely on account of the heavier footfall and the increased number of trips the Metro is undertaking. These faults have not turned into service-affecting failures except in the odd case just because of our stringent processes that ensure that faults don't graduate to failure. Even if one were to take the number of faults reported over the systems usage, it is clear that their occurrences range from 2-5 faults per million operations."

The spokesperson, added, "A case in point is AFC failure. A total of 1,249 AFC failures/faults were reported between January '16 and June '17, as per the report. The total number of passengers who travelled during this period is 13.22 crore. Each passenger uses the AFC twice (one Entry & one Exit). On that basis, the fault rate comes to 4.7 per million operations, which is in fact a performance any metro system would like to boast of.

The spokesperson further added, "We accord uncompromising priority to commuter safety and performance standards. Our robust and pro-active reporting regime is geared towards identifying each minor fault and undertaking immediate remedial action so that these do not graduate to service-disrupting failures. This is how MMOPL manages to maintain its performance of 99.9 per cent punctuality and 100 per cent availability on continuous basis.

MMOPL has achieved 100 per cent punctuality continuously for all days of a particular month several times in last 39 months of its operation."