After an inspection of coaches rolled out for operations, post-periodic overhauling revealed jammed emergency windows, misaligned toilet doors, stuck window frames and other faulty or deteriorating passenger amenities, the Ministry of Railways has directed top officials to focus on maintaining “zero deficiency” rolling stock.
According to official sources, special teams of the Railway Board conducted surprise checks on rakes of express trains rolled out for regular services from workshops after periodic overhauling at New Delhi and other major railway stations. It was found during the inspection that the ICF coach rakes had many deficiencies such as emergency window frames jammed or deteriorated, broken water bottle holders, irregular mobile phone charging points, etc.
“The condition of the coaches was not found up to the mark and quality of Periodic Overhauling needs to be improved substantially…The coaches should be turned out from the workshops with zero deficiency to enhance the passenger travel experience and further help in reducing complaints,” the Railway Board said in a note to General Managers of all Zonal Railways.
Besides compromises on the safety front like inoperable emergency windows, the inspecting officials found rough welded patches near window sills, dirty glass windows, bad painting along doorways, corridor and toilets and inferior quality of panels of different shades, the sources said.
Ironically, the coaches with these deficiencies had undergone a major overhaul at designated workshops and cleared for operations after a quality check by supervising officers. “The problem of bad or unusable passenger amenities is often noticed in Utkrisht coaches. These are basically old ICF design coaches (in blue colour) that were given a fresh paint (in yellow and red) to give a fresh look,” a senior railway official said.
In 2018, the railways took a policy decision to improve the condition of ICF type coaches running in Mail/Express trains. Upgradation of 447 rakes was completed till December 2020 under Project Utkrisht.
“For over three years now, the manufacturing of ICF design coaches has been stopped. The Integral Coach Factory and other coach manufacturing factories are now rolling out only Linke Hoffmann Busch (LHB) coaches which are considered superior in safety and aesthetics. However, there are many complaints that a sudden jerk is experienced when the LHB rakes start after a stop…it is felt more when passengers are asleep in the night,” the official who did not want to be quoted said.
