Over 500 Vande Bharat trains to be rolled out by railways next year which will also focus on passenger’s safety by installing “anti-injury" fitting in coaches

Next year, Indian Railway intends to launch close to 500 Vande Bharat trains. Additionally, the railways are improving passenger safety by installing "anti-injury" fixtures in their coaches.

According to a statement by Mr. B. G. Malya, General Manager of Integral Coach Factory (ICF), the aim is to target about 500 to 550 Vande Bharat trains for the next year. He further mentioned about the production that it plans to manufacture a total of 75 Vande trains of which 63 are the 8-car versions and 12 are the 16-car versions.

Additionally, it also intends to make about 1,700 Linke Hoffmann Busch (LHB) coaches and 700 Vande Bharat coaches. The target is for 750 EMU types of coaches and about 100 special coaches. The railways also focus on reducing the possibility of injuries in the event of rail accidents. It is planning to introduce anti-injury fittings in its coaches. The main objective of this system is to prevent injuries caused by sharp edges or protection within the coaches during unforeseen incidents or sudden braking.

Fittings like coat hangers made of metal and luggage racks with jagged edges now put travellers in danger. The Railway Board has directed all coach manufacturing facilities to take this requirement into account when purchasing equipment for future coaches in order to address this concern.

The Railway Board has issued this regulation in reaction to recent severe railway accidents that have claimed a substantial number of lives.

In addition, Indian Railways intends to swap out its ICF-designed coaches with German-designed Linke Hoffmann Busch (LHB) coaches, which have anti-climbing features to keep coaches from piling up in the case of an accident.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.