The problem is that making a double-decker train with sleeper berths is cumbersome design-wise, difficult for the elderly and women to access several the higher berths, and therefore it is rarely attempted in most parts of the world.
Was railway minister Suresh Prabhu's announcement of having overnight air-conditioned double-decker trains—christened UDAY—the brightest idea around? If the reaction of railway officials is anything to go by, the answer elicited is an emphatic 'no'.
The three routes announced for the overnight UDAY, between Bandra-Jamnagar, Vishakhapatnam-Vijayawada and Coimbatore-Bengaluru, are all 10 hour-plus journeys. Travelling overnight in a seated position for such a
long time is difficult, several officials felt.
The problem is that making a double-decker train with sleeper berths is cumbersome design-wise, difficult for the elderly and women to access several the higher berths, and therefore it is rarely attempted in most parts of the world.
The only solution—making seats that incline to semi-sleeper position like in international flights—could be even more problematic in two ways, officials said.
First, it would reduce the capacity of these double-decker coaches from the current 120 seats to anything between 75 to 90 seats.
This in turn would make the double-decker lose all competitiveness when compared to single-deck coaches. It is the energy calculations that are the dampener here, said officials. Each double-decker coach, when full with 120 passengers, has a gross weight of 65 tonnes.
This is higher than the gross weight of 58.50 tonnes of an air-conditioned three-tier single-deck coach with 72 passengers. An air-conditioned Shatabdi coach with 78 chair cars has a gross weight of about 50.27 tonnes.
"The double-decker coach is the heaviest and as a thumb rule consumes more energy, but it is balanced by the fact that it carries 120 people, almost 70 per cent more than other AC coaches.
However, if the seats are reduced and we have just 80 seats, then this competitiveness is lost. The biggest issue would be its odd dimensions (height and width) which makes operating a double-decker difficult on most routes," said a top railway official.
A double-decker at 4,366mm is a full 325mm taller than conventional trains, which have a height of 4,039mm. While the width of a conventional AC coach is 3,240mm, that of the double-decker is 3,050mm, or narrower by 190mm.
Queries sent to top railway officials elicited no response.
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