Leaking metro trains: Why it is justified for Mumbaikars to be angry

By Virpratap Vikram Singh On Wednesday, commuters on the Mumbai Metro were taken by surprise when they were subjected to a sudden monsoon downpour, right inside one of the metro trains’ compartments. The incident which was reported at 11.30 am was recorded by several commuters and uploaded online where, needless to say, it went viral. The video shows a large quantity of water leaking from the air conditioning ducts, splashing on to the floor of the train. [caption id=“attachment_1601611” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd (MMOPL) officials were quick to act and immediately took the train off the line and replaced it, but not before questions began to be raised on whether the brand new Metro Rail system was strong enough to withstand Mumbai’s famed heavy showers. Reliance Infrastructure, one of the stakeholders in MMOPL and which is operating the service, finally responded on the matter at 7.30 pm when it released statements on its social media pages on Twitter and Facebook stating: “It (the train) has already been replaced and will be put to service tomorrow.” This comment came eight hours too late and, as the video had generated a tremendous buzz by then, didn’t get any forgiving readers. Pressed for a comment on Thursday, a spokesperson for Reliance Infrastructure stated that the problem in the train was caused from one of the AC ducts in train number 1005. The problem was quickly rectified and the train went back on the tracks on Friday. The spokesperson went on to add that on Thursday night, all 129 AC ducts in the 16 trains were checked thoroughly to ensure that the problem does not occur again. The incident occurs just 25 days since the commencement of the Mumbai Metro services. Perhaps that is why Mumbaiites, who have been waiting a total of nine years for this metro rail system, were not the most understanding as they made strong comments against the service operator. The Metro representatives attempted to defend the firm in a late night post that stated: “The Mumbai Metro trains are of world class quality designed by ALSTOM; it has been quality tested by Indian Railways and it has no faults whatsoever. The technical issue witnessed today is not uncommon worldwide. It already has been rectified and the train is ready to serve tomorrow morning. We regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers today. #MumbaiMetro is committed to provide world class service. We are witnessing a few teething problems and trying to fix these things.” However, while Reliance can state that trains were designed by ALSTOM, a French multinational company, the trains were actually manufactured by CSR Nanjing Puzhen and based of the Chinese domestic Type A design for a total of Rs 6 billion, according to reports. When asked to respond on where Reliance had purchased their trains from, a Reliance spokesperson was unable to comment. Several people, however, took the liberty to advise Reliance that they did indeed, buy their trains from CSR Nanjing Puzhen, but a lot more people seemed interested in asking Reliance to validate their vague statement that the technical problem was “not uncommon worldwide”. When asked to comment on that, the Reliance spokesperson clarified that the message was a miscommunication and that the intended message was to reassure people that while a problem had indeed occurred, it was not one that was uncommon. The spokesperson went on to mention that the Mumbai Metro is now running at “99 percent efficiency”. The Mumbai Metro was completed in 2014 after nine years and at a cost of over Rs 4,000 crore. The project was completed through a joint venture between Reliance Infrastructure, Veolia Transport and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). It opened on 8 June, 2014 and has been running for less than a month.