C Egmr to Kollam Exp gets utkrisht
S Vishnu Sharmaa, INN/Chennai, @Svs037
The month of June has ended on an auspicious note for Chennai division of Southern Railway. Train No 16101/16102 Chennai Egmore – Kollam – Chennai Egmore Express became the third train to get Utkrisht rakes.
Sources from Southern Railway say the rakes in the train were introduced on 28 June. Now the train has 14 upgraded Utkrisht coaches including two 3-Tier AC coaches, eight sleeper class coaches, two general second class coaches and two luggage cum brake vans.
It is worth recollecting that 16181/16182 Chennai Egmore to Sengottai Silambu Express was the first train to get coaches. The second train from Chennai division get the same was 22657/22658 Tambaram – Nagercoil Tri-weekly Express. The third train happens to be Chennai Egmore to Kollam Express.
Utkrisht coaches are environment-friendly green coaches developed as a part of Utkrisht Project of Indian Railways, the coaches have many unique provisions.
All coaches of this rake are fitted with energy efficient LED tube lights, panel of LED lights in doorway and gangway, provision of dustbins in the toilets, stickers with ‘Go Green’ messages, provision of integrated basin-cum-dustbins in AC coaches.
There is an auto janitor system to spray air freshener every few minutes automatically and health faucets have been provided in all lavatories for its ease of use for hygiene. Hydrophobic coating has been done on wash basins, wall protectors and squatting pans. Double charging point has been provided in all reserved coaches.
These coaches are provided with Fire Extinguisher and with anti-theft Mechanism for passenger safety. Panel replacement has been done in the doorway and gangway area. The rakes have also been given a new colour scheme on the exterior beige and maroon. Exteriors of these coaches have been painted with high quality PU-Paint for protection of inner surface from frequent corrosion and keep the coach looking new for long time.
A layer of anti- graffiti paint has been applied on the top of the PU-paint to give a bright and reflective finish. High quality reflective vinyl, stickers have been used for coach information indication and destination stickers are used in lieu of stencilling with paint in this rake.