Train journey to get safer soon

The Indian Railways is now designing coaches with fire-retardant interiors to reduce injury and losses due to fire.

Being designed by the Rail Coach factory, (RCF) Kapurthala, these are made of stainless steel. "Now we are making super-fast LHB air-conditioned coaches in this style. However, we are hopeful that in the long run fire retardant interiors would be in all the trains," says D.A. Anand, chief mechanical engineer, RCF, Kapurthala. These coaches, he said, would be used for the Rajdhani Express.

These specially designed coaches use curtains and upholstery, which are fire resistant to a considerable extent, Anand says. Even when the cloth catches fire, the damage is minimal.

"If they catch fire, the fumes emitted would be non-hazardous," he adds. The inside wall panels are also fire retardant, he says adding this would reduce the number of deaths due to choking in case of a fire-related mishap.

Other feature of the fire-retardant coaches are-noise-insulated floors and fibre glass tables. "We are trying to ensure that our passengers can get the most comfortable journey," says Anand.

However, the designers till now have not been able to find an alternative to the foam wrap on the seats and berths. "Foam is more durable. Hence, it is taking us some time to find a suitable replacement. But we are hoping to come up with a new material," he says.

This is one of the many projects the RCF has undertaken. Another significant project is the crash-proof coaches. These coaches would hit the tracks next year. "Our goal is to divert the impact of collision to such a portion of the coaches that the passengers suffer the minimum," says S.K. Aggarwal, chief design engineer, RCF.

The coaches are designed in such a manner that in case of a collision, the optimum impact would be on the lavatory areas of a coach and the passenger areas would be affected the least, he says. The lavatories would collapse under the impact, and the force would not jolt the passengers, he explains.

The RCF has been at the helm of affairs in the Indian Railways for a long time. The foundation stone of the factory was laid by the then Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi on August 17, 1985. RCF has pioneered different new designs and coaches for the railways since then.

The factory is also the first production unit of Indian Railways to have achieved ISO-9001 certification in 1995. It has also bagged the ISO-14001 certification (Environmental Management System) for preservation and upgradation of the campus.