AC double-decker India's most unwanted train?

A three-year-old air-conditioned double-decker train, each coach of which cost around Rs2.86 crore, that made some 20 trips between Mumbai and Goa last August-September seems to be Indian Railways' most unwanted train.

Originally with the West Central Railway (WCR), it was handed over to the Central Railway (CR) last May to run it on the heavily-patronised Mumbai-Goa route in partnership with the Konkan Railway. Its inaugural run as a premium train during Ganeshotsav was a massive flop, with occupancy levels barely reaching 20% on any of the trips. Since then, it has been all downhill.

A few coaches of the train lie in the Vasai yard, while a solitary coach is in the Lower Parel workshop of Western Railway, visible to suburban commuters travelling between Elphinstone Road and Lower Parel stations.

The train was transferred last November to WR for its intermediate overhaul (IOH), a maintenance procedure that needs to be carried out on a train every 18 months. While the process should have gotten completed in around 45 days — the IOH of each coach takes an average of three days — the fact that CR officials haven't been in any hurry to take back the train has meant it still hasn't undergone the procedure.

A plan by a section of CR officials to transfer the rake to Southern Railway (SR) has also not borne fruit as yet, with SR general manager Ashok Agarwal telling dna that SR has no plans to take a double-decker from CR.

CR has not been keen on running the train right from the word go, say sources. "The train can't be run on the Mumbai-Goa route overnight, when there is demand, because of the railway board's rule that all overnight trains must have sleeper arrangements. During daytime, the train doesn't have many patrons on the route. Running it on other routes will require sanction from the Commissioner of Railway Safety, for which CR hasn't applied yet. In all, it is a mess," said an official in the know.

A query sent to CR general manager Sunil Sood on the status of the double-decker went unanswered.

The train, built at the Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala, was supposed to be the future of short-distance commuting. Its coaches, each 24 metres long against the usual 22, have 120 seats against the normal chair cars with 73. However, as CR officials have shown, the best of railway plans can come undone if all departments get together to stonewall it.