Stoppage of trains by passengers due to water shortage in coaches

PS: The above image is for representation purpose only and not the real situation in Salem Division or elsewhere.

There have been reports of the passengers resorting to stopping of trains in Erode junction for the past couple of days, demanding water supply. A few passengers were seen reacting violently to the railway staff when they tried to pacify them and explain the situation.

In this regard, it is clarified that there is an acute water shortage all over Tamil Nadu and in fact all over the country due to scorching summer conditions, resulting in drying of rivers, lakes and wells which are the main sources of water supply for Railways. Despite this challenging situation, the officers of Salem Division, under the directions of Sri Hari Shankar Verma, DRM, are taking all steps to ensure watering of all trains to the maximum extent possible.

Though originating trains are being watered in all the stations of Salem Division,   Erode junction, being a Clean Train Station (CTS) where long distance trains are being taken up for cleaning and watering for about 20 minutes, caters to a large number of trains say about 133 trains, in a day, including mail, express and passenger trains. To save time, high tech water filling systems called Camtech Water Systems have been deployed in Eroide junction to quicken the water filling process. On an average, a train rake that consists of 24 coaches needs 21,600 litres of water (at the rate of 900 litres per coach), and this works out to a mammoth amount of 28.73 lakh litres of water in total if we work out 100% filling and 23 lakhs litres of water if we take the filling as 80% due to some water available in the tanks of the coaches already. This requirement of water is over and above the water required for the taps in platforms and toilets.

The main source of water supply for Erode Junction is the Cauvery River, which has dried up completely with patches of water ponds here and there.  Hence, Salem Division is digging bore wells near the Cauvery River Bed in the railway lands to fetch water but even there, the water is found to be far below the palatable standards. So, the Engineering Branch Officials are taking all steps to purify the available water and supply for trains and the station. Due to the muddy condition of the water, the purification system’s filters fail frequently, ending with little or no time for setting them right, due to the continuous demand for water. To have time for setting the water filtering systems back to full working conditions, the works have been taken up on war footing. In the meantime, the approaching stations to Salem Division, such as Palakkad, Jolarpet, Dindigul, etc. have been alerted to fill water for a couple of days due to the servicing demands of the water filter systems at Erode.

It is requested that passengers may kindly understand the acute water shortage situation that is prevailing and the steps that are taken by the Salem Division in alleviating the troubles of the passengers to the extent possible. They are requested to cooperate with the railway staff and not to resort to stoppage of trains, altercations with railway staff, or damaging the railway properties in rage.