No RailNeer packaged drinking water at stations from September 7 to 20

IRCTC officials and the company’s spokesperson, when asked about such a letter and the technical issues at the plant, did not respond. Sources in the railways, however, said that IRCTC has been unable to meet the demand for water, which has gone up due to the heat. Although IRCTC had carried out maintenance works and created avenues for a back-up supply this February and last October, the situation at the moment is critical

Mumbai: It’s not just the rains that have retreated; bottled water too is set to disappear from railway stations in Mumbai. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has been unable to address a ‘technical issue’ at its Ambarnath water plant, owing to which Mumbaikars will not get RailNeer packaged drinking water from September 7 to 20.

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RailNeer, made available by the railways at ₹15 per litre, has a monopoly at all railway stations, rendering this the only option for suburban train commuters. In premium passenger trains and certain air-conditioned coaches, these bottles are included in the cost of the ticket.

According to sources in the railways, IRCTC has written a ‘most urgent’ letter to both Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR) on September 5 on the issue. ‘The technical issues at the Ambarnath plant are being tied up and will take a while to normalise,’ states the letter, requesting the railways to allow the distribution and sale of approved packaged drinking water brands till such time as the RailNeer supply is restored.

IRCTC officials and the company’s spokesperson, when asked about such a letter and the technical issues at the plant, did not respond. Sources in the railways, however, said that IRCTC has been unable to meet the demand for water, which has gone up due to the heat. Although IRCTC had carried out maintenance works and created avenues for a back-up supply this February and last October, the situation at the moment is critical.

“This shows that the IRCTC does not have a back-up stock for emergency situations,” said a railway official. “If there is a technical failure, then ideally there should be stock available for at least two to four days. They expect us to inform the private bottled water producers to supply water to railway stations at the last moment, which becomes difficult despite having tie-ups.”

The paucity of supply will affect the static units, namely the food stalls on platforms, as well as long-distance trains. The shortage comes at a time when some water vending machines at railway stations are not fully functional and others are defunct.

The Ambarnath plant has the capacity to produce 14,500 batches of 12 one-litre bottles per batch. The railways already have a demand of 12,000 batches per day, which is rising. “The commercial manufacturers of packaged drinking water want food stall vendors to purchase in bulk quantities of 3,000 to 5,000 cartons if they want a subsidised price, as individually these bottles cost ₹20 each,” said another railway official. “However, we sell them at ₹15 through RailNeer.”

Railway passenger associations too are miffed with the IRCTC for the frequent outage in the Ambarnath water plant. “Because of IRCTC’s short-sightedness, passengers will be affected,” said Madhu Kotian, president, Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh. “Private bottled water is costlier than RailNeer. The Indian Railways should stop this monopoly of RailNeer and also negotiate with other brands for cheaper drinking water at railway stations. The railways are talking big about redevelopment under the Amrit Bharat scheme but cannot even provide a basic amenity like water.”

Sources said that four to five different brands of bottled water were supplied to railway stations during emergency situations such as the current one. However, as it is the festival season, the demand for water in the open market is also large.