Power snag in Duronto’s new LHB coach causes inconvenience

NAGPUR: Just a few days after the Nagpur-Mumbai-Nagpur Duronto conventional rake was replaced with modern LHB coaches, passengers complained of inconvenience caused due to lack of electricity.

Duronto LHB rake was launched amid fanfare on February 23 by union highways minister Nitin Gadkari. “On Day One when we boarded the train, smoke coming from the engine caused a flutter among passengers. We also felt jerks during the journey which was not expected in new coaches,” claimed Manoj Band, a passenger.

“While returning from Mumbai, the S-6 coach of the same train had no electricity and windows did not open. The charging points were not working. We complained about it to the TTE at Kalyan. He promised to do the needful at Igatpuri,” said Band.

Another passenger Ramesh Udepurkar said, “At Igatpuri the railway technician could not detect the snag and train left without the fault being rectified. Though the coach had lights, till we reached Nagpur fans and charging points were not operational.”

Central Railway spokesperson and ACM SG Rao said, “The passengers made a mountain of a molehill. The problem was with sliding windows, which are different from conventional ones. The problem was detected at Igatpuri.”

Rao said there were 1,300 passengers travelling in the train but none complained about any issue. “There is good feedback about the new LHB coaches,” he said.

Band said, “The technician himself told us there is problem with some electric wiring and it will take time to detect the fault. He also told us he had to rush to address complaints of water leakage in AC coaches.”

“Our intention is not to hurl any insinuations against the railways but to draw the attention of authorities whether the coaches were examined before the launch or not,” said Dilip Sawalkar, another passenger of S-6.