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Rlys planned additional, safer LHB coaches in July

Conventional coaches will be slowly phased out once its codal life is over

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Utkal Express, which derailed on August 19, consisted of conventional coaches
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While an overhaul is expected in the Ministry of Railways, earlier last month the Indian Railways came up with a revised detailed roll-out plan for the next three years, a copy of which is with DNA. The number of conventional coaches to be manufactured — which are said to be accident-prone — has been further brought down to 802 coaches in 2017-18 from the earlier 1883 coaches for 2016-17.

With the introduction of Tejas Express and Humsafar Express, the production of safer and superior Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches will be increased.

In July 2017, the Railway Board came up with a revised coach production programme for 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. They have categorically stated that March 2018 will be the last phase for manufacturing conventional blue-coloured coaches. The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai will manufacture 601 coaches and Rail Coach Factory (RCF) in Kapurthala will manufacture 201 coaches in the last phase.

The Utkal Express which derailed on August 19 comprised these conventional coaches, leading to the death of at least 27 passengers after the coaches collapsed. The decision to discard these conventional coaches was taken after the November 2016 Indore-Patna Express accident in which 150 passengers died. "From 2018-19, we will only be manufacturing LHB coaches and the conventional ones will be slowly phased out once its codal life of 25 years is over," said a senior railway official.

Meanwhile, for the first time the revised production list has mentioned the consistent need to manufacture air-conditioned coaches for Tejas Express — 39 coaches for the first two years and 40 coaches in the third year; and 200 coaches every year for Humsafar Express. The coaches for Tejas Express will be manufactured at the RCF and for Humsafar Express 100 coaches each shall be manufactured by RCF and Modern Coach Factory, Raebareli for the next three years.

SAFETY MEASURES

The LHB coaches are designed with safety features like anti-climbing and anti-telescoping, so coaches would not plough into each other during a derailment or accident.

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