Title - Railways withdraws Linke Holfman Bush rake Kumod Verma, TNN | Jul 23, 2012, 04.13AM IST

PATNA: The Danapur division of East Central Railway (ECR), in a major development, has decided to withdraw LHB ( Linke Holfman Bush) rake of Patna-New Delhi Sampoorna Kranti Express (12393-12394) on regular basis due to various technical reasons. The railways has already replaced the LHB rake with the old conventional rake. It has decided not to run this particular LHB rake for safety reasons.

Railways had introduced this LHB rake with much fanfare on July 8. Many problems came to light within one week of its run. Unable to tackle these problems, railways had no option but to withdraw the rake from the train, sources said.

According to an ECR official, the rake was introduced this month after it remained lying idle in Danapur railway yard for about six months. The design and structure looked like Rajdhani Express LHB coaches. However, the new rake was different in weight, size and other designs from the Rajdhani Express' rake, he said, adding it was surprising how the commissioner of railway safety (CRS) had given his nod for the use of the rake.

Sources said during its weeklong run, it was found that several coaches of the LHB rake could not bear the full load of passengers. Springs and other vital components of the coaches started giving in under pressure, putting a question mark on passengers' safety too, they said.

Taking mechanical failure of the rake seriously, Danapur division informed the ECR headquarters about the development and sought replacement of this inferior quality LHB rake with a better one. Divisional railway manager (DRM) L M Jha said the load combination of Sampoorna Kranti Express's LHB rake was of 22 bogies, which included AC-I, AC-2, AC-3, sleeper, general bogies, pantry car and generator car cum luggage vans. Railways had made a trial run of this rake between Patna Junction and Mughalsarai at a speed of 110km per hour under the supervision of commissioner of railway safety (CRS) R P Yadav, he said.

According to sources, the Sampoorna Kranti Express with LHB rake was running at 130 kmph between Mughalsarai and New Delhi. The CRS of Northern Railway had given permission to run the train with new combination of LHB coaches, sources said.