The Mumbai Delhi Rajdhani Express has begun operations from today with new, smart ‘Tejas’ rakes, announced Western Railway. Two such rakes have been allocated for the specific use of this service.
Indian Railways claims that the new Modern Coach Factory (MCF) produced Rajdhani rakes boast of several ‘smart’ features. The new features will boost passenger comfort and improve safety, says a statement from the Western Railway. Other premium trains will gradually be provided with the new design rakes. No timeline has been provided on when this will be fully implemented.
Important passenger facing features of the new Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani Tejas Rake
- Automatic Doors: No more dangerously boarding a running Rajdhani! The new rakes will feature automatic doors that must be closed before the train starts moving.
- Passenger Announcement and Passenger Information System: Each coach has two LCD displays that provide more information about the next station, distance remaining, expected time of arrival, delay and safety related messages.
- Better Toilet Units with Occupancy Sensor: The new bio-vaccum toilet has interiors with anti-graffiti coatings, Gel coated shelf and a new design dustbin, A door latch activated light and engagement display also features. The toilets now have a panic button in case of emergencies. Toilet Annunciation Sensors are fitted in each coach to relay dos and don’ts announcement in the lavatories, whenever they are occupied.
- Digital destination board: LED destination boards have been installed on each coach. The data will be displayed in two rows. The first row will display the train number and coach type while second row will display the destination and intermediate station in multiple languages.
- Improved interiors: Seats and berths having fire – resistant silicon foam, provide better comfort and safety to passengers.
- Roller Blind on window: Instead of curtains roller blinds provided for easy sanitization.
- Mobile Charging points: Provided for each passenger.
- Berth reading light: Provided for each passenger.
- Upper berth climbing arrangement: The new ladder design makes climbing up to the higher berths more convenient.
New Technological Features on the Tejas Rake coaches of the Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani Express
- Security & Surveillance monitoring: Every coach has six cameras with night vision capability and facial recognition even in low light conditions.
- Stainless Steel Under-frame: The coach under-frame is made of austenitic stainless steel (SS 201LN) to reduce corrosion and increase coach life.
- Air Suspension Bogies: All coaches have air suspension for passenger comfort and ride quality of these coaches.
- On Board condition monitoring system for bearings, wheels, to improve safety
- HVAC – Air quality measurement for Air Conditioning system
- Water level sensor to indicate water availability on real time basis
- Textured Exterior PVC Film: Exterior is provided with textured PVC film.
A First: Passenger Information and Coach Computing Unit
One of the two new rakes sports a Passenger Information and Coach Computing Unit (PICCU) for coaches. This unit will monitor a variety of different parameters for every coach. The data will be sent to a central server via a mobile network for closer monitoring of the performance of various facilities, says Western Railway CPRO Sumit Thakur.
PICCU will record CCTV video, toilet odour sensors, panic switches, air quality and fire detection and alarm systems in addition to power consumption. Indian Railways has decided to move to a more reliable and cost-effective predictive maintenance system from the traditional preventive maintenance system it currently uses.
What is the fare structure? Occupancy? Time of travel compared to overall Air travel? Daily? Who are the people likely to travel? Is it financially viable when other issues pertaining to other issues of environment are staring at us?
It is noticed long distance taxi service are advertised in this. Will these services compete with rail traffic?