 "Indian Railways to add new 'anti-injury' feature to passenger coaches")
Indian Railways (IR) are looking to add passenger coaches with an "anti-injury" feature that could revolutionise railway travel by improving safety of passengers. The news was broken by the Times of India, who spoke with sources confirming that IR has asked all coach manufacturing units to take this requirement into account when planning purchases of future passenger coaches.
The aim of "anti-injury" is to reduce risk and increase the safety of passengers caused by sharp edges or protrusions in fittings inside passenger coaches. This is especially important in cases where the train can make sudden brakes or "jerks", causing unsuspecting passengers to get hurt.
Several fittings inside passenger coaches of IR have been identified as possible safety hazards in cases of sudden jerks, which are common in train journeys. This includes metal coat hangers and the rough edges of luggage racks. The official confirmed that these will be changed in future passenger coaches.
This also comes at a time of increasing number of train accidents, with three incidents of train crashes recorded in just four months. Earlier this year, IR also stated it would expedite its plans to implement Kavach, an anti-collision system on passenger trains after the gruesome train accident in Balasore district, Odisha, involving the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express. The incident has left over 238 dead and 650 injured.
Indian Railways is also looking to replace its integral coach factory (ICF)- design with German Linke Hoffmann Busch (LHB) coaches. The LHB coaches reportedly come with an "anti-climbing" feature that could prevent trains from piling up on each other in case of accidents.