Mumbai swelters in heatwave, but railways grossly ill-prepared

Mumbai may be reeling under an intense heatwave but the railways seems grossly illprepared to lessen the weathertriggered discomfort of its commuters If the watervending machines on platforms are running dry small water bottles are not available at station stalls To add to this blowers on many local trains are dysfunctional said train users who are braving temperatures touching 40 degrees Celsius for the past few daysCSMT Most such dispensers sport the message ldquonot operationalrdquoAs it was among the most essential amenities on the premises railways had installed reverseosmosis machines that dispensed clean water for a small fee The machines had been in a bad shape and were completely shut down during the Covid19 pandemicinduced lockdown Today these machines sport a board that reads ldquononoperationalrdquo There are an estimated 70 such machines on suburban platformsldquoThe drinking water machines on suburban stations in Mumbai on both lines are not in working condition The temperature of Mumbai is rising so people need water while travellingrdquo said commuter Vitthal Wadikar ldquoThey have shamelessly removed water machines from Palghar and put plastic bottle recycle machines instead Currently the temperature is hitting 40 degrees Celsius and the railways is replacing the water dispensing machines with such things Also many stations do not have a roof coverrdquo said H Vartak a Palghar residentThane This disused machine was hidden during a visit by the railway minister last monthMahesh Patil was equally frustrated ldquoPostCovid there are more concerns hygiene and these water filters were the best option Railways had two years to fix the machines and now when everything has opened they are not prepared Now one has to buy new bottles every timerdquo he said Tushar Raut a train user said he too has appealed to the railways to start operating the watervending machinesldquoIf the railways canrsquot maintain these machines why waste of citizensrsquo hardearned money of lakhs of crores on them The disused machines also eat up space adding to congestionrdquo said Anil Pipara Railway officials were unable to share any update on the watervending machines saying it was the IRCTC that had installed themldquoThe water vending machines at the suburban stations have been discontinued on account of expiry of the validity of the contracts awarded to the vendors concerned Further as per Railway Board guidelines installation of water vending machines at all stations will be done by the concerned zonal railwaysrdquo an IRCTC official saidCommuters H Vartak left and Mahesh Patil feel the railways should have been more empathetic to commutersWhy no 500ml bottlesCommuters complained that smaller water bottles of 500ml were unavailable at station stalls and that they had to buy larger onelitre bottles ldquoSmall bottles should be available for sale as they can quickly quench thirst and be disposed of Railway stalls usually store onelitre bottles which is a bit bulky to carry around In the absence of water machines the railways should make these smaller bottles availablerdquo commuter Devkmar Panigrahi saidLocals or furnacesInside train coaches nonfunctional air blowers are adding to the discomfort of commuters The blowers were supposed to pump in 14535 cubic metres of fresh air per hour The socalled stateoftheart ventilation system on the ACDC Siemensclass rakes costs Rs 4 lakh per coachmdashRs 48 lakh for 12car trainA shut drinking water dispenser at Matunga station on WednesdayCommuters said the blowers are switched off many times ldquoIt has been so many years that there have been these blower complaints If there is a fault in technology the local workshops should mend them and not leave it like thatrdquo said commuter Satish Rao who had filed an RTI about the issue last yearRailwaysrsquo commentsldquoRail Neer which bottles water for sale on rail premises has a standard bottle size of 1 litre Any change will have to be done by higher authorities and as per a policy decision The water bottles are available as per standard size Wherever Rail Neer is available it is mandatory to sell only Rail Neer and other PAD water brands of any capacity cannot be sold About the blower issue they are working in all the trains and the crew has been advised to keep them onrdquo Central Railway chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar saidOn the watervending machines Western Railway chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur said the nonfunctional ones will be removed from the platforms ldquoAs far as blowers are concerned they are working in all the trains and are examined regularly on WR and complaints about nonfunctional ones could be about one or two stray incidentsrdquo70Approx no of watervending machines on platforms