With a fleet of roughly 24 rakes, including 13 old rakes and a few newer ones, the Metro authorities have been struggling to cater to the high footfall, which is on the rise with every passing day.
Representational Image (Photo: Getty Images)
Unavailability of some spare parts, coupled with insufficient manpower, is plaguing the maintenance work of city’s Metro network, mainly comprising rakes that have exceeded their life span.
The population of commuters in Kolkata’s metro has increased by leaps and bounds since its first commissioning in the year 1984. With partial commercial service covering a distance of 3.40 km including five stations between Esplanade and Netaji Bhavan during its inception days, the Metro has not only expanded in terms of route but has also become the life line transport system of the city, carrying around seven lakh commuters every day. The number sometimes goes higher during festivals. The expansion of the route and the surge in number of commuters however, was not matched by the number of rakes.
With a fleet of roughly 24 rakes, including 13 old rakes and a few newer ones, the Metro authorities have been struggling to cater to the high footfall, which is on the rise with every passing day.
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While the Dalian rakes from China are to undergo a series of tough tests before being introduced commercially, the fleet of Medha rakes from the Integral Coach factory of Chennai, has failed to cater to the demand.
According to sources in the Metro, of the five rakes brought from ICF, three were rolled out on the tracks in the month of April while the remaining two are yet to pass the tests by the concerned authorities. However, after one rake was sent back to the manufacturers in June, and remaining two being pulled from service last week, the burden of around seven lakh commuters again lies on the earlier fleet, including mainly the 13 old rakes.
The fleet of old rakes, most which are above 30 years, needs extensive maintenance which the newer lot otherwise do not require, according to a metro official. “Maintenance of rakes is required on daily, weekly, half-yearly, yearly or even after intervals of three days, 40 days and so on,” informed the official.
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