MADURAI: Barely after not even a week, the India's first semi-high speed fully air-conditioned luxury train between Madurai and Chennai Egmore which was flagged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was stopped twice by the passengers by pulling the emergency braking chain twice, in Tiruchy railway junction, on the charges of poor and untidy maintenance in the coaches. 

On Tuesday afternoon, the 'Madurai - Chennai Egmore Tejas Express' that departed from Madurai junction at 3 pm made passengers furious when they saw the uncleaned toilet in compartment C9.

Further, few elderly passengers reportedly suffered suffocation as they could not open the windows of the compartment. The efforts made by the passengers in contacting the officials ended in vain. 

R Subramanian, a passenger in C9 compartment said that "soon after the train started to move, we started to notice that the toilet was untidy and not cleaned and no water facility was made in the
toilets. Further most of the LED displays attached in the seats are not working"

"When we raised about the dysfunctional of windows, a technician from the train crew said that the windows cannot be opened due to electrical fault.", he added.

When the Tejas express reached Tiruchy Junction at 4.50 pm, the passenger made a complaint to the station authorities to rectify the issue. As there was no proper response, one of the passenger travelling in C9 compartment pulled the emergency chain.

"The station officials came to the compartment and was only trying to pacify us and was not intended to resolve the problems. Without clearing the problems, the train was again started to move", said
a female passenger on the request of anonymity 

Further she added, that this made the passengers furious and again they pulled the chain. "Cops from Railway Protection Force (RPF) was brought in. The passengers entered into an altercation with the railway officials and they assured of sorting the discomforts and after ten minutes of delay, the Tejas express proceeded to Chennai-Egmore"

The turn round train, Tejas's primary maintenance and the Round trip Brake Power Certificate (RBPC) - (the trains run round the clock and come in for a short maintenance service of two hours) is under the control of Chennai Egmore station.

When Express contacted the Tiruchy Railway officials, they refused to comment on the issue. 

The train comprising of 15 coaches with exclusive amenities like CCTV, Wi-Fi facilities, modular toilets, luxurious seat will have 12 AC Chair Car coaches (LWCZAC), one First class Chair Car (LWFCZAC)
and two Generator Varns (LWLRRM-02) was flagged off by Prime Minister Modi on March 1.