The first double-decker train service between Mumbai and Goa got off to an inauspicious start after the driver of the train halted it at Roha for over an hour.
The driver, BC Singh, was slotted to pilot the train till Ratnagiri. The train was stranded at Roha for over an hour, the drama having started at 8:40pm. The train finally left for its destination at 9:50pm, by which it had affected the schedules of other trains.
As passengers in the train fumed, an embarrassed Central Railway operations team had to send an SOS to Konkan Railways to send in a replacement driver, called 'reliever', in railway parlance.
While CR insists that the driver change should happen at Roha so that it has enough drivers for its other services, KR authorities said that the arrangement agreed upon during a meeting held at the railway board between CR and KR was that the driver change would happen at Ratnagiri.
KR officials said that one of the conditions for running the Mumbai-Goa double-decker was that the CR driver takes it all the way till Ratnagiri while KR provides the guard for the train at Roha.
However, by late Friday evening, a compromise has been reached. Konkan Railway, on the request of CR authorities, decided to run the Ganpati special trains from Roha. This is on the assurance by CR authorities that the old system of CR drivers piloting all trains till Ratnagiri will be back in place, once Ganpati specials are discontinued on September 10.
KR officials said that CR, which has a bigger strength of drivers than KR, must ensure its drivers pilot trains till Ratnagiri. CR officials argue that lack of enough drivers has meant that some trains will have to be handed over to KR at Roha, so that CR has drivers to run services from CST and Kurla Terminus.
"For example, the Kurla-Thiruvananthapuram Netravati Express has a system where CR drivers hand over the train to KR drivers at Roha. The huge number of special trains being run by the railways has created this problem for almost all railway zones," said an official.
As reported by DNA in its Friday edition, the first double decker run between Mumbai and Goa has been a commercial disaster with just 135 of the total 960 seats available on the train getting sold.
Spreading it too thin?
The 50-odd special trains announced by the railways for the Mumbai-Goa sector this Ganpati season is raising fears among CR officials that too much pressure is being put on the single line Panvel-Roha line.
"We are running this line at a capacity of almost 160 per cent and these 50-odd trains will make it just that much tougher," said an official.
Currently, CR runs around 35 mail express trains and 15 to 18 goods trains on the route. The Ganpati specials are adding upto around 10 trains per day. "It is this kind of over-utilization that creates unsafe situations like track fractures and derailments," said the official.
"The life of a track is evaluated by something called the Gross Million Tons which is the total weight- of train, passenger, freight- that has gone over the tracks. The maximum weight a track can manage in its entire lifetime is between 550 GMT- if it is 52kg standard rails- or 800 GMT if it is 60kg standard rails,. Using a track beyond this limit is an open invitation to disaster," said the official.
The other issue that railways is looking at is the effect the special trains will have on the goods trains that run on the route. "This a very busy freight route with trains carrying oil, chemicals and industrial goods. If so many special trains are run, there will be some curtailment in the goods traffic. That is not good for the railways' financial well-being as a whole," said an official.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}