Rajdhani,Shatabdi-like Steel coaches for all Trains

Ask mothers and they will instantly say: Stainless tell utensils revolutionised the Kitchen. In fact, the Stainless steel revolutionised almost every ares/profession it touched. For instance, surgical tools.

Indian Railways is up for a Stainless Steel revolution as well. In an ambitious move, the railways have decided to replace all its traditional blue coloured Express train ICF coaches with the new and popular stainless steel made LHB coaches that are now being used in only select trains that include Rajdhanis, Shatabdis and Durontos.

Why this transition?

Railways hopes that the transition to Stainless steel coaches will increase the life span of its coaches & wagons and increase the general safety standards in its network. That apart these trains with stainless stell coaches can run at a maximum speed of 160 Km/hr instead of the usual 120 Km/hr with top speed braking within 1.1 km. These can be upgraded easily with very small changes to run at a maximum speed of 200km/hr.

Notably, making the coaches from Stainless Steel makes them lighter and increase their life span by 10-15 years. The usual ICF coaches last for 20-25 years.

By when you will be travelling in a Stainless Steel Coach, every time you do make a train journey:

The Railways has set itself a target to replace all rakes of running express trains to LHB by the end of 2016. In the beginning, the AC rakes are to be replaced. The Rail Coach Factory (RCF) Kapurthala will be making the coaches; and has been instructed to also step up production of AC coaches in general keeping in view the ever increasing popularity in AC travel — one of the cheapest mode of air-conditioned travel around the world.

AC Train Travel growing fast:

From a mere 16 percent of total coaches produced a couple of years back, the AC coaches now constitute 36 percent of the 1500 coaches produced annually by the RCF.
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