Harbour line commuters angry after swanky new trains replaced by old rakes

Harbour line commuters angry at Central Railways decision to swap four of their favourite Siemens class of trains with Pune suburban railways muchhated older retrofitted rakes CR denies discriminationAfter years of getting secondclass treatment with the worst trains in Mumbai Harbour line commuters cannot believe that they are now being held second even to Pune passengersThese Siemens rakes are the best that the Harbour line has to offer and commuters are angry about losing out on themCommuters have gone up in arms after hearing that the Central Railway CR will give up four of their better rakes in exchange for rickety retrofitted trains from PuneIn exchange the Harbour line will get four of these retro trains that are over 17 years oldCR commuters have long grumbled about having to ride in retrofitted trains anywhere between 17 to 22 years old while their counterparts at Western Railway WR get to ride the shiny new Bombardier rakes that began rolling in last year In comparison the best trains that CR has to offer are the decadeold Siemens rakes but the commuters much prefer these over the rickety retro trains The Harbour commuters get the worst deal of all as most of these retro trains fall in their share The Harbour line has only 25 of the beloved Siemens rakes and now the authorities are giving away four of these to Pune In return Harbour commuters will be saddled with yet more retrofitted trains that nobody wantsComplaining that they not only rattle with age but are also stuffy and congested as compared to the more airy Siemens rakesRetro trains are hellholesRajni Dolas a transharbour passenger said The retro trains on the Harbour line are hellholes They are stuffy and congested as compared to the Siemens trains on the main line of CR and the swankier Bombardier rakes on WR Now Pune commuters will get our newer Siemens rakes which means we will be stuck with the worstMany of the retro trains are in a bad condition and their maintenance is very poor Harbour line commuters have been suffering for a long time and it is high time that they get better trains said Subhash Gupta from Rail Yatri Sangh Mumbai also an exmember of the National Zonal Railway Users Consultative CommitteeCommuters have described the retro trains as hellholesNecessary measureEven as commuters protest that they are getting the short end of the stick yet again CR officials said this is merely a necessary stopgap measure The PuneLonavala section was recently upgraded to 110kmph but the retro trains were unable to keep pace derailing the schedule of other longdistance trains as well This affects several trains heading in and out of Mumbai as well Officials said that this is why they decided to transfer the faster Siemens trains to Pune as the Harbour line does not need much speed However the officials were quick with assurances that this does not mean commuters will have to suffer the old trains for longA senior CR official said This is just a stopgap arrangement New trains have started arriving from manufacturers and the first one is already in place Soon we will replace the old fleet on Central Railway The official added There is no stepmotherly treatment The only reason why the Harbour line still has old trains is because it was the last to get converted to AC power by which time other lines started getting new trains Akshay Ojha a commuter said WR got a fleet of the new Bombardier trains and we have to make do with the decadeold Siemens and worse yet the retro trains This is injustice But a new Bombardier rake arrived for the Central line last week and this has finally given us hope