Rake circulation every 72 hrs for a safe ride under river
Times of India | 18 March 2024
Kolkata: To ensure safety of passengers travelling through East-West Metro’s under-river stretch, rakes will be sent for maintenance every 72 hours. Twice a week, on Wednesday night and Sunday afternoon, the two rakes used on the Esplanade-Howrah Maidan stretch will be interchanged with fresh ones from the Salt Lake carshed-cum-maintenance depot.
The 4.8km section includes twin 520m tunnels under the Hooghly riverbed and officials said they can’t afford to have a rake-related snag in the new stretch.
Officials of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) had earlier said the new services would be suspended on Sundays to have the high-maintenance BEML-rakes transported through the unfinished Esplanade-Sealdah stretch to the Central Park depot. There is no such facility on the Howrah side. Therefore, only superficial maintenance, like checking the AC system, synchronising with the platform screen doors and visible faults can be addressed at the terminal Howrah Maidan station.
The Salt Lake depot has pits for undergear checking, which is a prerequisite of the regular maintenance of the BEML-make rakes. Only after such inspection and maintenance will the train examiners issue fitness certificates for rakes operational in the East-West Metro.
In fact, a major hurdle for the commencement of the under-river operations has been the lack of maintenance facilities on the Howrah side. The first team from the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) had suspended their inspection last Dec because the east-bound tunnel of the under-construction 2.5km Esplanade-Sealdah stretch, through which empty rakes are now being transported, was incomplete.
“Inspections at the Salt Lake depot every 72 hours will help us identify and repair faults. We can look for such faults only if there is a pit facility at a depot,” an official said.