An untidy poorly maintained sleeper coach attached to Hazrat Nizamuddin-Thiruvananthapuram Superfast Express has triggered a protest on social media. The photos of the train (Train No: 12643) taken at Palakkad railway station and uploaded on Twitter by a passenger with a tag line “How can you send such disgusting and old coaches for service. How unsafe are these. Shameful” has created ripples on social media, forcing the Southern Railways to issue a clarification.
The photos uploaded on Twitter on July 5 were viewed by 3,28,600 users till July 9 with many expressing shock and dismay. Moved by the visuals, the Southern Railway clarified that “It is largely due to monsoonal rain and wearing out of paint on a/c of unauthorised graffiti that was removed later. They are absolutely safe. Brand new LHB rake is being inducted into this train service from September 5. However suitable action will be taken on return,” the tweet by southern railways said.
The old and rickety coaches attached to the trains that operate under Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad divisions have been receiving brickbats from rail users with passengers accusing the Railways of ignoring Kerala for long. Sources in the Railways, however, said the Southern Railway owns a total of 225 rakes. Of these, 103 rakes are new Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches (46%), while the remaining 122 coaches (54 %) are non-LHB old coaches.
“Old rakes are being replaced as per new rakes allotted and replacement plan given by the Railway Board. Further, Vande Sleeper rakes are under development. Once the prototype is rolled out, we can expect Vande sleeper rakes to replace some old rakes,” said the source.
