Mumbai swelters in heatwave, but railways grossly ill-prepared

Dadar: A dysfunctional water ATM at Dadar station

Mumbai may be reeling under an intense heatwave, but the railways seems grossly ill-prepared to lessen the weather-triggered discomfort of its commuters. If the water-vending 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 days.

CSMT: Most such dispensers sport the message: "not operational"

As it was among the most essential amenities on the premises, railways had installed reverse-osmosis machines that dispensed clean water for a small fee. The machines had been in a bad shape and were completely shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown. Today, these machines sport a board that reads "non-operational". There are an estimated 70 such machines on suburban platforms.

"The 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 travelling," said commuter Vitthal Wadikar. "They 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 cover," said H. Vartak, a Palghar resident.

Thane: This disused machine was hidden during a visit by the railway minister last month

Mahesh Patil was equally frustrated. "Post-Covid, 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 time," he said. Tushar Raut, a train user, said he too has appealed to the railways to start operating the water-vending machines.

"If the railways can't maintain these machines, why waste of citizens' hard-earned money of lakhs of crores on them. The disused machines also eat up space adding to congestion," said Anil Pipara. Railway officials were unable to share any update on the water-vending machines saying it was the IRCTC that had installed them.

"The 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 railways," an IRCTC official said.

Commuters H Vartak (left) and Mahesh Patil feel the railways should have been more empathetic to commuters

Why no 500-ml bottles?

Commuters complained that smaller water bottles of 500ml were unavailable at station stalls and that they had to buy larger one-litre bottles. "Small bottles should be available for sale as they can quickly quench thirst and be disposed of. Railway stalls usually store one-litre bottles, which is a bit bulky to carry around. In the absence of water machines, the railways should make these smaller bottles available," commuter Devkmar Panigrahi said.

Locals or furnaces?

Inside train coaches, non-functional air blowers are adding to the discomfort of commuters. The blowers were supposed to pump in 14,535 cubic metres of fresh air per hour. The so-called state-of-the-art ventilation system on the AC-DC Siemens-class rakes costs Rs 4 lakh per coach - Rs 48 lakh for 12-car train.

A shut drinking water dispenser at Matunga station on Wednesday

Commuters said the blowers are switched off many times. "It 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 that," said commuter Satish Rao, who had filed an RTI about the issue last year.

Railways' comments

"Rail 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 on," Central Railway chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said.

On the water-vending machines, Western Railway chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur said, the non-functional ones will be removed from the platforms. "As far as blowers are concerned, they are working in all the trains and are examined regularly on WR and complaints about non-functional ones could be about one or two stray incidents."

70
Approx. no. of water-vending machines on platforms