LHB coaches for safety of passengers: Rly minister
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has proposed to convert all the coaches of longdistance trains to stainless steel ones. The plan is to convert at least 40,000 coaches into Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches for the safety of passengers.
These coaches are equipped with modern technology which prevents capsizing of coaches during derailment. The production of the old coaches at Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at Chennai have been stopped from April this year. The old coaches are heavier than steel and are unable to handle the impact during a derailment.
This announcement was made by Prabhu during his visit to the city on Monday.
“We are also planning to change the interiors of all trains and convert the coaches into LHB ones. The tenders have been floated recently,” said Prabhu.
The minister also flagged off the luxurious Tejas Express train and inaugurated several passenger amenities on central line.
Prabhu also promised to convert all toilets into ecofriendly bio-toilets by 2019. “The Tejas Express train has bio-vacuum toilets which uses less water as compared to the toilets present currently in the long-distance trains,” said Prabhu.
Emergency Medical Rooms (EMR) were also inaugurated at Kurla, Ghatkopar and Wadala Road stations to provide first aid to passengers injured in railway accidents. Foot overbridges at Dadar, Kurla, Thakurli, Wadala Road and Chembur stations were also inaugurated by Prabhu.
Prabhu also inaugurated several booking offices at places like Dockyard Road, Thakurli, Reay Road, Cotton Green, Chembur and Mankhurd stations. “We have proposed to revamp the website of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and introduced more automatic vending machines,” said Prabhu.