Tambaram-Nagercoil Express gets upgraded
The upgraded trains have a lot of comfort facilities as well as appealing and redecorated interiors and exteriors.
Chennai: The Tambaram -Nagercoil triweekly express is the third express to be upgraded to the Utkrisht standards under phase 2 of the project. Rameshwaram-Tirupati express and Coimbatore-Mannargudi chemmozhi express underwent restoration earlier.
Phase 2 of the project Utkrisht will see the reconditioning of 64 rakes at a total cost of Rs.67.75cr. With the restoration of three rakes completed now, work on the remaining 61 will be completed shortly.
The upgraded trains have a lot of comfort facilities as well as appealing and redecorated interiors and exteriors.
Aimed at improving the passenger’s travel experience, this project incorporates a lot of new additions to the rakes. Polyurethane paint coating for the coaches, hydrophobic coating of washbasins, WiFi services in AC coaches, LED lights for better lighting, mobile charging points and glowing berth number indication boards are some of the welcome facilities under this scheme. Refurbishing of damaged coaches, providing the berths with better cushions, odourless bio-toilets and indication of berth/seat number with Braille language are also included under this project.
“Ten rakes were already refurbished by the Southern Railway under phase 1 of this project. We are working to refurbish 5-6 rakes per month,” says a Southern Railway official.
He said the public response to this project has been positive.
The rakes were refurbished under the Utkrisht scheme implemented by the ministry of railways in April 2018. Railway Board allotted Rs.60 lakh per rake in the Budget 2018-19. Railway Board has planned to develop 640 Utkrisht rakes as part of the remodelling of its mail/express trains in the next two years at a cost of Rs 400 crore. The entire project is expected to be complete by March 2020.