New Delhi:
Indian Railways have plans to develop 640 Utkrisht rakes under its project of upgrading the mail/express trains in the next two years at a cost of Rs 400 crore, a senior official asserted on Wednesday. Kalka Mail from Howrah station was the first lot of Utkrisht rakes that departed on Tuesday and is scheduled to reach Delhi on Wednesday night. The project has been undertaken as ‘green rakes’(consisting of 20 or 22 coaches) at Eastern Railways’ Liluah workshop and they cost Rs 60 lakh each.
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"Our aim to develop 140 rakes by March 2019 after which we are planning to roll out 500 more by March 2020. The rakes will provide better facilities to passengers, including LED lightings, odourless toilets," Member Rolling Stock, Railway Board, Rajesh Agarwal said.
The rakes will be seen in a different scheme on the exterior, beige and maroon.
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Energy efficient LED tube lights, the panel of LED lights in doorway and gangway, provision of dustbins in the toilets, stickers with ‘Go Green’messages, provision of integrated basin-cum-dustbin in AC coaches, will be fitted in all the coaches of this rake.
Moreover, the toilets of all the coaches have improved fittings, vinyl wrapping provided at the doorways of the coaches, night glow stickers and Braille signages inside the coaches and new colour scheme.
Indian Railways’ first “Utkrisht” rake is ready in Eastern Railways with all amenities as prescribed. It will be put in commercial service on 2nd October in 12311 Howrah-Kalka Mail pic.twitter.com/QcfdXvU0k5
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) October 2, 2018
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The unique feature of this Utkrisht Rake is the provision of Swachh Rail Toilet (SRT), which is a hybrid design of the bio-toilet system.
Toilet has the advantages of less water consumption, no chocking of the system, complete sealing of odour and maintenance friendly, the officer said.
