Seventy per cent of the coaches used in the trains running in the railway network of the State are over 25 years old, Minister in charge of Railways Aryadan Mohammed told the Assembly on Monday. Some of the coaches in the trains running in the State were rusted and the coaches used in the long-distance trains were in pitiable condition, the Minister said in a written reply to a question by P. Thilothaman.
He said it had come to the notice of the government that untidy and old coaches were returned for the coaches sent from the State for periodic overhauling at Chennai. The State was yet to have a periodic overhauling unit for the coaches.
In the wake of the accident involving a passenger train at Alappuzha, the Minister said the State had asked the Union Railway Minister to phase out the coaches that were above 25 years old in five years and to set up facilities at Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram to take up repairs of coaches. The State had asked Railways to post additional personnel for the work.
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Another demand put forward by the State was the use of modern system for cleaning of coaches.