Title - Shatabdi to use ordinary coaches for two days

CHENNAI: Not all passengers may be able to travel in the spacious and modern Linke Hoffman Bush (LHB) coaches on the Chennai-Bangalore-Mysore Shatabdi Express on Monday and Tuesday. Railways have pulled out a few LHB coaches for maintenance after employees of Basin Bridge yard protested against using them as they had crossed the deadline for periodic overhaul in July.

Regular ICF made AC III tier coaches or chair car coaches will be included in the train till the LHB coaches are back from maintenance. As seating arrangement of some of the coaches will be different from what is given in tickets and charts, railway officials will open a help desk at Chennai central to assist passengers.

"We are planning to do maintenance of these coaches so that they can be used. They will return soon," said Southern Railway chief public relations officer V J Accamma. The decision has come too late. Railways has been using the coaches because of the lack of spare rakes though the deadline for periodic overhaul (POH, a full maintenance carried out every 36 months) was July 31. A rake comprises 10 coaches, including a power generator carr.

Indian Railways Technical Supervisors Association (IRTSA) alleged that the mechanical department extended the periodic overhaul deadline of the coaches and used them for running the train on Thursday and Friday (August 2 and 3). Technicians and other employees of Basin Bridge train care centre staged a protest near Central railway station on Thursday alleging that railways were forcing them to compromise on safety.

There is no spare rake but there is one power generator car, one executive chair car and two chair cars to be used as spare. But the spare coaches are now under periodic overhaul at Carriage and Wagon works. POH of a coach can be extended if intermediate overhaul is done.