FRONT PAGE | Wednesday, February 10, 2010 | Email | Print | 
Bombardier ride isn’t that smooth on Delhi Metro tracks
Rakesh Ranjan | New Delhi
The newly inducted hi-tech coaches from German company — Bombardier — have failed to give a hassle-free ride to Metro commuters. Even after six months of their introduction, repeated technical snags, including three different incidents on Monday evening, have raised questions over the efficiency of the coaches. Even after getting clearance from the Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS), these coaches create glitches. The Monday’s Metro breakdowns had thrown city traffic out of gear.
“It was the first occasion when a Bombardier train was exposed to rain that probably might have caused power disruption on overhead lines, which further caused flashing in the pantograph of the train near Jhandewalan,” said a DMRC official. Also, two other Bombardier trains had developed technical faults that affected train services on Line-3 — between Dwarka Scetor-9 and Noida City Centre. While the doors of a train got jammed at Kirti Nagar station, another train developed motoring problems near Botanical Garden station.
The official, however, said that the trains were constantly being monitored by experts from Bombardier and efforts were being made to rectify glitches. The DMRC has also lodged a complaint with the company in the wake of frequent breakdowns. At present 22 Bombardier trains have been operating, while four others are in the process of being inducted. The DMRC has placed an order for 83 new trains for the Phase-II of Delhi Metro that are to be supplied by Bombardier.
DMRC chief spokesperson Anuj Dayal had said that more time was required to finetune Bombardier trains owing to their sophisticated technology. Non-opening of doors is the most frequent fault with two such incidents reported in the last four days.
The DMRC had in October last year introduced Bombardier coaches with ultra modern features and safety apparatus. There were instances of giving wrong information in the train creating panic among commuters.
Ironically, the DMRC had claimed that the new Bombardier trains were equipped with enhanced safety measures and conveniences ranging from CCTV cameras to mobile charging points and from reduced noise level to higher speed and more effective braking systems. The trains have been procured at comparatively cheaper rates than the old Rotem trains.
There has been a spate of incidents involving Bombardier trains in the past. This includes the non-opening of doors of a train at Central Secretariat station on Friday last week. Earlier, on November 8, a near-stampede was caused at Rajiv Chowk station when a brand-new Bombardier train came to an abrupt halt between Rajiv Chowk and Ram Krishna Ashram Marg stations with half the train inside the tunnel.
According to the DMRC, the incident took place due to power failure in the train which caused the train to stop for nearly an hour. Two more incidents were reported the same month where the trains had either skipped the stations or the doors of the trains failed to open at the stations.
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