Railways may switch to German coaches from 2018

rahul1117kumar

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More than 84% of train coaches in India are not safe and the railways board is now charting out a time-bound strategy to tide over this crisis. The road map was laid in an emergency board meeting on Monday against the backdrop of Indore-Patna Express mishap that claimed more than 145 lives.

According to sources, the strategy states production of only Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches designed by Alstom in Germany from 2018, introducing ultrasonic fault detector to detect fracture, revamping the training pattern of railway men and also converting railway safety directorate to an auditing body, placing the onus of safety on the engineering department.

The report presented to the board said that 53,000 of 63,000 coaches were unsafe as they did not have anti-climbing technology. “The board noticed that most deaths happened in this accident because the coaches climbed one over the other. Hence, it was decided that the current Integral Coach Factory (ICF) coaches will be withdrawn in a phased manner,” said an official close to the development. The Suresh Prabhu-led railways ministry will also stop producing ICF coaches from 2018 and will go for LHB coaches from that year.

Currently, India has only 4,000 LHB coaches, which have anti-collision technology, used in some Rajdhanis and Shatabdi trains. While railways produce 3,000 coaches every year, it phases out 1,000 coaches annually.

Railways may switch to German coaches from 2018 | Business Standard News
 
The official reason is that current stock of ICF coaches lying with wagon builders is worth Crores & can't be scrapped as it is.
 
prasad1979 said:
The official reason is that current stock of ICF coaches lying with wagon builders is worth Crores & can't be scrapped as it is.
So people's life is less valuable than those money [emoji19]
That's the reason why we are far behind China

 
Rlys' shift to safer LHB coaches will take time

The aftermath of the Indore-Patna Express accident near Kanpur on November 21-that killed 150 passengers-might have seen a clamour for conventional train coaches to be replaced by safer superior Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) ones, but that might take some time. Data obtained through Right to Information by DNA shows that for the financial year 2016-17, the Railways will be manufacturing more conventional coaches than LHB ones.

According to the coach production programme of the Railways issued by the mechanical department of the railway board, a copy of which is available with DNA, the Railways will make 1,883 conventional coaches and 1,614 LHB coaches this fiscal.

Of the 1,883 conventional coaches, the Integral Coach Factory-Chennai will make 1,118 coaches and the Rail Coach Factory-Kapur-thala the remaining 765 coaches.

The largest chunk under conventional category-700 coaches-would be Deen Dayalu coaches, a new segment for the lowest rung of rail passengers. These unreserved coaches will have potable water system, cushioned luggage racks, bio-toilets, mobile charging points, fire extinguishers among other amenities.

The LHB coaches will be built primarily at the newly-commissioned Modern Coach Factory at Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, which will make 625 of these LHB coaches. The ICF would make 423 coaches and the RCF-Kapurthala 566 coaches. One of the biggest components of the LHB coach production schedule would be the construction of 154 Antyodaya coaches. These are also coaches for the unreserved traveller but with amenities similar to the ones found in the Deen Dayalu coaches, said officials.

Officials who spoke to DNA said that while there are plans to gradually upgrade all trains with conventional coaches to those with LHB ones, the process might take at least a couple of decades. “There are close to 50,000 coaches in the current fleet. The serial production of LHB coaches started in 2002. “Most coaches have a codal life of 25 years, You can't retire assets mid-way after all,” said a top rail official.

Source:
http://epaper2.dnaindia.com/detailtextview.php?id=8205&boxid=70127&cid=4&mod=&pagenum=3&pagedate1=06-12-2016&edcode=820009#
 
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