Indian Railways’ Rs 600 Cr Budget For Coaches; 1st Pizza Vending Machine Launched In A Railway Station!
Coaches would be revamped with charging points, seat tray and more. And, now, have pizza right at the railway station.
After extensively focussing on improving railway tracks, engines, routes and reservation system, Indian Railways has now announced their plans to improve rail coaches.
Rs 600 crore would be now spent on improving and optimizing existing rail coaches. But not every coach will be improved.
Here are 5 major changes which every railway passenger should be aware of:
Contents
Which Coaches Would Be Improved?
As per Rajesh Aggarwal, member (rolling stock) of Railway Board, only those coaches which are less than 20 years old shall be focussed for improvements.
As of now, Indian Railways has 59,000 coaches, out of which, 8000 rail coaches are more than 25 years old. These would be gradually phased out.
Around 40,000 coaches, whose age is less than 20 years would be now improved and optimized. This year, 2000 coaches would be improved, and then gradually increased starting from 2019.
How Much Budget Has Been Allocated?
To make these 40,000 coaches modern (which are less than 20 years old), total of Rs 600 crore has been allocated.
What Major Changes Will Happen?
From now on, every coach of Indian Railways will have:
- Better seats (inclusion of new berths, with better foaming, can be introduced)
- Seat cover on every berth
- Brand new taps in every washroom inside the coaches; even new mirrors
- Photographs in the passage of coaches, to make it look beautiful
- Compulsory charging points for every seat in the coach
- Tray tables across every coupe of the coach
Which Coaches Would Be Prioritized?
As per initial reports, coaches from Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express would be targeted first, based on demand. Majority of the coaches will be refurbished when they go for annual maintenance so that it doesn’t disrupt the operations.
RK Singh said, “This will increase the life of coaches and from a passenger’s point of view, refurbishment is important. Things like curtains and bathroom fittings need to be changed,”
Utkrisht Coaches
Besides these announcements, Indian Railways always announced the rollout of Utkrisht coaches, for which Rs 400 crore has been allocated.
These coaches shall be selected from the popular mail/express trains, and per Utkrisht coach, Rs 2.5 lakh would be spent – for both exteriors and interiors.
And, from 2019 onwards, the modern and robust Linke Hofmann Busch coaches shall be manufactured by Indian Railways. As of now, they are imported.
Pizza Vending Machine Now At Railway Station!
Another exciting news for rail passengers: Mumbai railway station has now been equipped with India’s 1st pizza vending machine, which is installed right inside the railway station.
Now, if you are craving for a hot pizza right before your train is about to depart, you can visit this vending machine, and take out a pizza!
Price of Veg pizza ranges from Rs 180 to Rs 260 for a 8-slice, 10.5-inch pizza.
You need to first get tokens from the nearby cafeteria run by Indian Railway Catering Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), which you can use in the vending machine to take out the pizza.
This vending machine was launched a pilot project on November 7th, and has received a good response. Around 40-50 pizzas are sold every day.
This pizza service will be available between 7 AM and 11 PM, every day.
We will keep you updated, as more details come in.
