New Delhi, Oct 27 (PTI) The engine of a freight train, en route for Jaipur, had to be detached from its wagons at Ootwar station near Alwar and brought over 100 km back to its originating station Mathura for refuelling due to a lack of coordination between two railway divisions, railway sources said on Friday.
When contacted, public relation officers of both the divisions — Agra and Jaipur — told PTI that they would look into the issue and respond.
According to the sources, the incident took place on October 21 when a freight train started off from Mathura for Jaipur at 3 in the afternoon with an electric engine, however, on the way at Deeg station, the Agra Control Department decided to swap the diesel engine of another train with the freight train.
The sources further informed that the engine had 2,300 litres of diesel when it reached Ootwar station but the control department of Jaipur division refused to allow it to enter in its division saying that it was low on fuel.
Agra falls under the North Central Railway zone while Jaipur comes under the North Western zone. Alwar is the interchange point between two divisions as well as the zones.
“At 7:30 in the evening, the Agra division decided to detach the engine and bring it back to Mathura for refuelling. The wagons waited for more than 10 hours at the Ootwar station until the engine was driven back after being replenished with diesel oil at Mathura,” a source said.
“The whole process took close to 10 hours and finally the train started off from Ootwar for Jaipur at 5:30 in the morning,” it added.
Loco pilots of freight train engines inform that reserve oil level of freight train engines vary between 600 litres and 1,200 litres depending on its types.
“Once the engine hits the reserve point, it needs refuelling. The high reserve point is due to the fact that a lot of oil gets consumed when the freight engine waits for hours on red signals so it needs a good amount of oil as reserve,” Sanajy Pandhi, working president, Indian Railway Loco Runningmen Organisation (IRLRO) said, adding that a freight train engine consumes five litres of engine oil to cover 1 km of distance.
North Central Railway sources say that with 2,300 litres fuel the engine would have easily reached Jaipur which is the next refuelling point after Mathura but the two divisions could not work it out amicably.
On the other hand, sources in the Jaipur division said that the engine was low on fuel and the Agra division should have filled it up to the optimum level before sending.
The lack of coordination cost the railway in terms of the wastage of manpower, fuel, loss of punctuality and delay in freight operation for over 10 hours, officials say.
“It matters a lot when the Railway Board is particular about improvement in punctuality and services of freight and passenger trains in the country. The two divisions need to show better coordination,” a senior railway official from the Agra division said. PTI JP SMN
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