The Science Express – Bio-Diversity Special -- arrived here on a four-day visit to the city on Monday. The exhibition train stationed on Platform No. 8 (Gnanpuram entry) will be open for visitors till Thursday.
Divisional Railway Manager Anil Kumar formally inaugurated the exhibition and went through the exhibits displayed in the 13 special coaches. Additional DRM C. Madhusudhana Rao, Senior DCM Yelvender Yadav and Senior Divisional Security Commissioner P. K. Gupta were among those accompanied the DRM.
The Science Express is a collaborative initiative of the Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India.
The exhibition showcases an array of biodiversity in the country and the conservation measures adopted to protect them. The exhibition also showcases various aspects of climate change, water, energy conservation, environment, and legacy of the Science Express.
Science Express - Biodiversity Special is a unique mobile exhibition mounted on a specially-designed 16 coach AC train (13 exhibition coaches and two power cars), which will be travelling across India in its 6th phase covering 19000 km and 62 locations (stations) in India.
The train started on April 9, 2013 from Safdarjung Railway Station in Delhi and will reach its destination on October 28, 2013 at Gandhi Nagar (Gujarat). So far 8.8 lakh visitors, most of them schoolchildren, have visited the exhibition train. At Rayagada, about 30,000 visitors, including schoolchildren, visited the Science Express.
The first coach consists of bio-diversity of India and the 10 bio-geographic zones in the country, in the second coach one can see animals and trees that are exclusive of trans-Himalayan and Himalayan region and in the third coach, we can see the flora and fauna of Gangetic plain. Fourth coach: a unique array of birds and animals of North-East Region; fifth coach: blue mountains and the diversity of species in Western Ghats; sixth : the gigantic spread of Indian desert and semi-arid zone.
The seventh coach showcases the bio-diversity in the Deccan peninsula, in 8th coach the wide varieties of aquatic and wild life in the coastal and island regions of India are displayed, climatic changes, water resources and the management and links to biodiversity can be seen in the 9th coach, in the 10th coach sustainable environment for the climatic changes happening nowadays can be seen; 11th coach describes about energy conservation; the 12th coach, which is a new addition, is exclusively meant for children and they can have fun-filled hands-on activities as well as play mentally-challenging games and solving puzzles and the last coach has the Joy of Science Lab. Entry to the exhibition is free and is open for all. It will remain open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The train will move to Kakinada, followed by Reniguta and then to Chennai.
