Foot-operated taps & ionised AC air: Railways preps for travel post-Covid

The features, detailed in a booklet circulated by the Railways, include a host of foot-operated fixtures such as taps, soap dispensers, lavatory doors, flush valves and door latches.

From foot-operated soap dispensers and toilet flushes to door handles manoeuvred with the forearm and handrails coated with anti-microbial copper, the Railways’ new coaches for post-Covid travel launched on Tuesday come packed with features to help stave off infection.

The first two coaches that rolled out from the Railway Coach Factory in Kapurthala also have fixtures coated with titanium dioxide and the provision for plasma air equipment in AC ducts to sterilise interiors using ionised air, officials said.

All future coaches will now have these specifications, a railway spokesperson said. “The present ones will also be retrofitted to include these changes wherever