By Apurva Bhatt

The new Bombardier rakes that were introduced in service a month ago on Western Railway seems to have got the thumbs up by the commuters. M-indicator, a popular mobile app, had undertaken an online survey to seek the feedback from commuters about the various features of the new rakes, including comfort, seating arrangement, design of the handle, etc.

The survey was done between April 13 and 20. Overwhelming number of commuters have expressed satisfaction with the features of the rake. A M-Indicator official said, "The survey population was 22,766, of which 55 per cent were in the age group of 26-50 years." The biggest concern is about the handle at the door for alighting and boarding.

Nearly 34 per cent commuters were disliked the concept of the Hexagonal design of the rod placed at the entrance of the door. Some commuters opined that the door bar of earlier trains were better and the space for getting in has decreased causing a lot of troubles during peak hours. While 92 per cent of the commuters felt the leg space as comfortable in second class as compared to 72 per cent in the first class.

 Commuters also expressed satisfaction with force ventilation system that has been the USP of these rakes as compared other earlier Siemen's rakes. 
Some commuter suggested that railways should introduce automatic door closing system. Some also suggested that the first class window should have sunlight protection films. 

M-indicator had earlier tied up with MRVC for this survey but miscommunication among the officials forced to undertake this feedback independently. 
Two Bombardier rakes with the darker shade of purple on the exterior were introduced in services on March 18. 

MRVC has placed orders for 70 more rakes that scheduled to be delivered by 2016. Railways have decided to run Bombardier rakes only on WR, which is will hand over Siemen's rakes to CR as when Bombardier rakes are delivered.