You will soon be able to enjoy a train ride with modular toilets, LED lights, fire and smoke detection systems as the Indian Railways has embarked on a mission to refurbish 40,000 rail coaches.
“This is one of the largest retro fitment projects in the world as Indian Railways’ coaches will be refurbished and retrofitted in the next five years. The cost of upgrading each railway coach will be around ₹30 lakh. This mission is challenging as it will be carried out without affecting the traffic operation,” Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said at a press conference here on Tuesday.
The new coaches will also have more mobile and laptop charging points, Braille signage and ergonomic designs among other features.
While 25,000 coaches will be upgraded this financial year, 15,000 new coaches will be manufactured between 2018-19 and 2022-23. The Railways also plans to replace the Integral Coach Factory’s coaches with German-made Linke Hoffman Busch (LHB) coaches from April 2018.
