Patrons upset with old coaches in new LHB rakes of Mangaluru-Mumbai Matsyagandha Express

Patrons upset with old coaches in new LHB rakes of Mangaluru-Mumbai Matsyagandha Express

The euphoria among patrons on getting new rakes with Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches for the Mangaluru Central-Mumbai LTT-Mangaluru Central Matsyagandha Express was short-lived, as 50% of the coaches are old ones that were built between 2014 and 2023.

Train No. 12620/619 Mangaluru-Mumbai LTT-Mangaluru Matsyagandha Express has a rake sharing arrangement (RSA) with Train No. 16348/347 Mangaluru Central-Thiruvananthapuram Central-Mangaluru Central Express.

In all, four rakes with 22 LHB coaches each are used by Southern Railway to operate the two services.

Santosh Kharvi from Trasi in Kundapura taluk, who recently travelled to Mumbai on Matsyagandha Express, said the second class sleeper coach where he was allotted a berth was an old one. While the charger point was not working in S1 coach, many of the window shutters were not closing. The commode flush was not working in the toilet while tap fixtures were broken.

Chiding Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Kota Srinivas Poojary, who travelled on the inaugural run of the new LHB rake of Mangaluru-Mumbai service on February 17, Mr. Kharvi said the MP should have travelled in second class sleeper coaches instead of 3-AC coaches to know the reality.

Mr. Poojary was instrumental in getting LHB coaches in place of age-old ICF coaches that were deployed when Matsyagandha Express was flagged off in 1998.

Sources said the Thiruvananthapuram division of Southern Railway owns the rakes. While one rake has 21 coaches built in 2024, another has 12 coaches, another has 9 and one more has just 2 coaches built in 2024. Of the total 88 coaches for four rakes, 44 were built in 2024 while the rest were built some time between 2023 and 2014.