Railways promises to get its act together

Having suffered a severe dent in its image following an acute shortfall of coaches and a spate of accidents involving ill-maintained coaches in Kerala, the railways has grown wiser. The coach position is getting back to normal and steps have been taken to ensure their upkeep, Thiruvanathapuram Divisional Railway Manager Rajesh Agarwal assured. “The Thiruvananthapuram Division is not an outhouse of other divisions (in Southern Railway). We must get back each coach that is sent to Chennai for periodic repairs,” he said. He was responding to questions from reporters here about reports that about 25 per cent of the coaches sent for repairs from Kerala were diverted to places in Tamil Nadu, causing acute coach shortage in the State. On passengers being forced to travel in inferior coaches because of the shortage of AC coaches, Mr Agarwal said this mismatch was being addressed. The Ernakulam Area Manager of Southern Railway P L Ashok Kumar had said all trains were plying with the sanctioned number of coaches since Tuesday. “Steps are being taken so that shortage of coaches can be anticipated well in advance. We also need coaches to step up the existing coach composition in trains. More coaches can be added to trains that travel with 18 coaches, so that more passengers can be accommodated in them,” Mr Agarwal said, at a press conference here. (The Hindu dt 12-1-2013)