CHENNAI: The first rake of refurbished coaches under project Utkrisht (Special) has been allotted to Kongu Express. The maiden run of the train that runs from Coimbatore to Hazarat Nizamuddin is likely to commence on Sunday, said official sources.
The upgraded coaches of Kongu Express will have enhanced amenities such as LED lights, Braille signage and maintenance lock for toilets. In addition, flushing valves, health facets and other dustbins to be fitted into the toilets as per the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) standards.
“The flooring of coach has been replaced and every reserved coach has been provided with fire extinguisher. AC coaches are fitted with an indication board,” said a senior railway official.
However, it is learnt that as proposed earlier, the Railways is unable to provide vinyl wrapping in the coach interiors and has not replaced the seats owing to shortage of funds. The rake was upgraded at the cost of Rs 60 lakh.
In November 2017, the Railways launched project Swarn to upgrade the coaches of premier trains such as Shatabdi, Duronto and Rajdhani.
Following this, the Parliament Standing Committee, which studied passenger amenities, indicted the Railways, saying that it has been paying too much attention to premier trains, neglecting the regular passenger trains. The PAC also advised the Railways to provide better amenities on a par with premier trains to regular express trains as well.
Acting on this, the Railway Board launched project Utkrist under which 140 rakes of 66 trains across India have been chosen for upgradation. Among this, 17 rakes of eight long-distance trains are connected to various parts of Tamil Nadu.
In the Southern Railway, 10 rakes of six trains have been identified for renovation.
The trains are Tiruchy-Howrah superfast express (bi-weekly), Madurai-Delhi Hazrat Nizamuddin Sampark Kranti Express (biweekly), Coimbatore-Hazrat Nizamuddin Kongu Express (weekly), Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram AC Express (bi-weekly), KSR Bengaluru-Kochuveli Express (daily) and Mangaluru Central-Nagercoil Express (daily).
Additionally, the Mysuru-Thoothukudi Express (daily) run by the Southern Western Railway, and Dibrugarh-Kanniyakumari weekly express run by Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) will also get refurbished.