Indian Railways on Saturday rolled out new coaches designed for passenger comfort and environment-friendliness for induction into its Mumbais suburban rail network.
Mumbai, July 28 : Indian Railways on Saturday rolled out new coaches designed for passenger comfort and environment-friendliness for induction into its Mumbai's suburban rail network.
The new coaches, unveiled by Maharshtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, are designed to utilize maximum floor space for passengers to sit and stand.
Special blowers have been installed to maintain normal levels of carbon-di-oxide inside it, since during peak hours 550 passengers cram into carriages designed that are designed for 200.
The new carriages have more leg space between seats.
"With the induction of more such coaches the usual number of passengers in a train will come down from the current 5000 to perhaps 3500. This would make commuting more comfortable. We plan to get all the rakes over the next year or so, procuring about 4 every month," Deshmukh said.
The network, considered the city's arteries, carry more than six million passengers everyday.
People hang from coaches, balance precariously on the roofs of carriages as they trundle along three lines and through nearly 120 stations.
The rakes are designed to conserve energy and the Railways expect to save over 200 million units of power by September-end.
"The energy bill of the Western railways would come down by about 60 crores of rupees. Moreover, since energy consumption is less, there would be less energy production, and less emission," said Regional Manager of Western Railways, A.K. Jhingron.The Railways are also looking forward to earn carbon credits worth eight crores of rupees.
ANI