As miscreants continue to steal expensive stainless steel washroom fittings from long-distance Utkrisht trains, the Central Railway has decided to replace them with plastic fittings.

Branded toilet fittings, water taps and flush valves installed in trains have fallen prey to thefts, with many fittings disappearing from the coaches. The Deccan Express, which plies between Pune and Mumbai, and Gadag Express, which connects Mumbai with Gadag in Karnataka via Pune, were modernised by the Mumbai Division of Central Railway under Project Utkrisht by spending Rs 60 lakh per rake.

As per the data provided by the Central Railway, the Utkrisht trains running from Pune have seen expensive stainless steel fittings worth Rs 3.25 lakh stolen. The Mumbai Division has seen the maximum thefts, worth Rs 4.35 lakh, followed by Nagpur division (Rs 3.45 lakh) and Solapur (Rs 2.50 lakh) in one month.

Project Utkrisht had been launched with an aim to upgrade coaches of mail or express trains.

“This is a loss of national property. In the last one month, due to thefts, CR has lost Rs 15.25 lakh while Western Railway has lost Rs 38.58 lakh. It would be expensive to refit these again on the trains. Now, the Railways has decided to replace all expensive stainless steel fittings with plastic fittings. A steel tap costs about Rs 300-450 while plastic will cost Rs 60-80,” said Public Relation Officer of Central Railway, A.K Singh.

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