We all like happy faces, and so does the Indian Railways. If you don’t believe us, go through the 9 recent developments the railways has made.
More power to the railways, more power to the travellers!
1. Deen Dayalu coaches
A huge boost to general-class travellers! The Indian Railways has already rolled out its modern unreserved ‘Deen Dayalu’ coach with facilities including mobile charging points, bio-toilets and potable drinking water. Also, the coach is equipped with cushioned luggage racks and additional hand hold in the coat hooks and doorway area.
2. Gatiman Express
Touted as the fastest train of India, Gatiman Express was flagged off by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on April 5. The inaugural run was conducted to cover the 200 km distance between Delhi and Agra in 100 minutes. An automatic fire alarm, a 5,500 HP electric locomotive, GPS-based passenger information system, sliding doors, 12 AC coaches and a high-power emergency braking system–the train has it all.
3. E-catering in trains
Thanks to the extension of e-catering service to 45 stations, passengers have more food choices and no longer have to depend on poor quality food. The main objective has been to introduce self-help groups to the passengers from where they can order food. However, things are changing for good. TravelKhana provides an online platform that can be used by passengers for ordering food from their favourite restaurant while they are travelling in a train.
4. Talgo trains
After recording a speed of 180 km/hr in less than 40 minutes on the Mathura-Palwal route, the Spain-built Talgo has become the fastest train in the country. The coaches of Talgo trains have a normal luggage rack similar to the ones in airlines. Moreover, the seats are close to each other, and there’s a wall-mounted table in between them for passengers to be able to travel hassle-free. A cafeteria, power car, six cars, and a tail-end coach (for equipment and staff)–Talgo has it all.
5. Project Nilgiri
RailTel in collaboration with Google has launched free high-speed Wi-Fi service at many stations. The project aims at extending free Wi-Fi service to passengers and visitors at around 400 railway stations PAN India. Wherever launched, passengers can make use of the free Wi-Fi facility after verifying their number through a one-time password send over SMS.
6. The Executive lounge
The swanky new Executive Lounge set up at the New Delhi Railway Station will take you to another world. Set up by both, IRCTC and SSP Catering India Pvt. Ltd., this 5-star lounge offers hotel-like luxuries, that too at an affordable price! Not many of you would know that it’s for the first time in India that SSP Catering India Pvt. Ltd. has built a luxurious lounge like this.
The lounge has tied up with travel booking sites and Leela Palace to provide its passengers with a “feel at home” comfort. Just log on to the official website of IRCTC and book your stay.
7. Bio-toilets
Indian Railways is all set to its target of installing 40,000 bio-digester toilets in all coaches by 2019. In fact, a few trains even have these. The objective is to keep the entire rail network discharge free. The design of these bio-digester toilets has been mutually made by both, the railways and ministry of defence’s Gwalior-based Defence Research and Development Establishment.
8. CNG train
Another milestone for the Indian Railways has been the launch of the first CNG train on the Rewari-Rohtak route of Northern zone. Besides controlling the consumption of diesel, the CNG train is believed to help in reducing greenhouse gas emission. It’s interesting to know that the engine of the train runs on dual fuel– CNG and diesel.
9. Operation Five Minutes
No more spending endless hours in buying a train ticket at the counter. Operation Five Minutes aims at bringing down the maximum time to five mins for buying a ticket at the counter. Also, a charter has been made mandatory for all the zones to follow.
Cheers, Indian Railways! 🙂
