Low-floor plot gets smokier

A section of the government and the Delhi Transport Corporation officials may call it sabotage, but the sudden spurt in the incidents of spark and smoke in low-floor buses, traffic experts say, is due to lack of maintenance and negligence of the bus manufacturers.

A section of the government and the Delhi Transport Corporation officials may call it sabotage, but the sudden spurt in the incidents of spark and smoke in low-floor buses, traffic experts say, is due to lack of maintenance and negligence of the bus manufacturers.

HT Image

In the eighth such incident in the last 26 days and the second in two days, sparks and smoke forced a low-floor bus plying on route no 323 between Dhaula Kuan and Noida Sector-34 to come to a stop around 3.35 p.m. on Monday.

Senior DTC officials said if the maintenance team of Tata Motors — the company that manufactures these buses and is also responsible for their maintenance — deployed at the workshop of DTC depots were more careful, such incidents could have been avoided.

The swanky fleet of low-floor air-conditioned (AC) and non-AC buses is one of Delhi government’s much latest acquisitions.

Of the 1000-odd low-floor buses in its fleet, the DTC has about 950 buses manufactured by Tata Motors. The remaining have been manufactured by Ashok Leyland.

By March 2010, the number of low floor buses is expected to touch 3,775, of which more than 2,600 will be rolled out from Tata Motors plants.

“The technology used in these buses is the one which is used in buses in Europe where the condition of roads and traffic is much better than Delhi. The bus manufacturers apparently follow the maintenance schedule of the buses abroad. The company should revise the maintenance schedule to match the conditions of Delhi,” said Tutu Dhawan, automobile expert.

A Tata Motors spokesman said they were indeed focussing on this issue. “There is a maintenance schedule of the buses.

Based on the operating experience, we keep revising these schedules we have a system at par with what is required,” said the spokesperson. “We are now thoroughly checking the entire fleet, which will be done by January 31.”

Sources in the DTC confirm that lack of greasing in certain components of the bus lead to the wearing down of a small device installed between the axle and the rear wheels.

Lack of lubrication of this part results in the wear and tear.

Explaining the system, a senior DTC engineer said the lining between the brake shoes and the device also gives way causing greater friction between the brake shoes and the brake drum.

Since the new floor buses are powerful (230bhp), the drivers have failed to account for the extra pressure on the wheels that ultimately cause the wheels to heat up and emit smoke.

While the life of ‘bush’ is one-lakh kilometres, due to lack of maintenance it required replacement after 70,000-75,000 kilometres. That is the reason why the buses involved in these incidents were on the road for more than one-and-a-half years and had done between 70,000 and 90,000 kilometres, a senior DTC engineer said.

“Ideally, greasing should be done in these buses every 10 days to keep enough lubrication in the system,” a senior DTC official said requesting anonymity.

“If it is done properly and regularly the cost of maintenance and spare parts come down drastically. But apparently, the service team carried out this particular process every 20-25 days, which was not enough.”