Tamil Nadu Express second class coaches get Braille signage

Visually impaired passengers can locate berth number, alarm chains and emergency windows

First-of-its-kind:The Braille signage in one of the second class coaches of Tamil Nadu Express.—Photo: R. Ragu

In a major relief to visually impaired passengers, Southern Railway has provided second class reserved coaches of the Chennai–New Delhi Tamil Nadu Express with Braille signage.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative by Southern Railway, all the 13 three-tier second class coaches in each of the 4 rakes of Tamil Nadu Express (totally 52 coaches) now have Braille signage, railway officials told The Hindu .

Braille signage on coaches was announced during the Railway Budget of 2013-14, officials said.

The signage on Tamil Nadu Express has been provided at the entry points and near berths.

“Visually impaired passengers can touch the signage and locate their berth number,” officials said.

Signs indicating location of alarm chains and emergency windows are also provided.

The signage was fixed at the Train Care Centre Basin Bridge last month during regular maintenance of rakes. The cost of installing the pre-printed signage, issued by suppliers from New Delhi and authorised by Research Designs and Standards Organisation, Lucknow, works out to about Rs. 14,000 per coach.

While welcoming this as a fine initiative, M.Nagarajan, president, College Students and Graduate Association of the Blind, said the railway administration should make arrangements to have Braille-enabled reservation charts. Further, there should be a signs to indicate coach numbers, he said.

Officials said that one coach of the New Delhi – Puri (Odisha) Purshottam Express has been made visually-impaired friendly and more recently, coaches of Mysuru–Varanasi Express have been fitted with Braille signage on all its coaches.