Railways have developed an innovative way to use the old passenger coaches instead of discarding them. These coaches are being modified and utilised for transportation of goods.
Altogether 150 unserviceable old passenger coaches will be redesigned by South Eastern Railway to be used for goods transportation by this financial year (2020-21). Till now, 148 coaches have already been converted by Kharagpur Workshop of South Eastern Railway.
There is a good number of Coaching Vehicles in different zones attached to passenger trains which are 15 to 20 years old. Since the railway is increasing the speed of trains by upgrading the rakes from conventional ICF to LHB advance type coaches, due to which such coaches are planned to be withdrawn from passenger service. To properly utilize such assets, this modification has been planned keeping in view that there will be no shortage to maintain passenger service.
Instead of discarding the old coaches, railways have found a new technology to convert these coaches so that they can be used for goods trains. To convert each coach, the cost is around Rs. 10 lakhs. After conversion, the life of the coach will increase up to 10 years. At the same time, the Railways will also make substantial savings, because the cost of a new VPH coach comes to around Rs. 1.65 crores.
After conversion, the capacity of the modified coaches will be 14 tonnes and able to run at a speed of 110 kmph. These redesigned coaches may be utilised for transportation of vehicles, including tractor, two and four wheeler etc.
