Mumbai Railways promises better ventilation in new 12-car trains

Ending the plight of commuters who must travel long distances in poorly ventilated train compartments, the 72 new 12-car trains that are expected to arrive under phase two of the Mumbai urban transport project will be more spacious with a better ventilation system that includes upgraded blowers.A senior official of the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) said blowers in the existing new-age trains were of a “basic quality” as it was the first time that they had been introduced in running trains for Mumbai. “The existing version is a very basic design and improvements shall be made on it. You shall find a better version in the new trains that are expected to arrive,” he said.The present new-age violet trains, estimated to be worth Rs20 crore, have been installed with a ventilation system that includes powerful blowers that cost Rs4 Lakh per coach, taking the cost to Rs48 lakh per 12-car train. Over 1,000 new coaches have arrived in Mumbai installed with this feature, taking the total cost to above Rs40 crore.But the blowers are an example of how new technology can go wrong. The MRVC, which was co-ordinating the new train project, was instrumental in putting in place this new technology. The blowers were supposed to pump in 14,535 cubic metres of fresh air per hour inside each coach to maintain stringent standards of air quality. Commuters complain that the existing blowers have been useless. While railway officials said these blowers, which are crowd-sensitive, only function with full power when coaches are filled with people, commuters in the train said that even so, the relief provided is negligible. “They make more noise than blowing air,” said Ranjit Shete, a third-year BCom student and regular commuter.Rakesh Saksena, managing director of MRVC, has assured to look into complaints on the existing ventilation system.