NEW DELHI: In an attempt to attract upscale tourists, the Indian Railways will come up with glass top coaches, which will be introduced on regular trains in Kashmir Valley and Araku Valley in Tamil Nadu.
These coaches have been jointly designed by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), Research, Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), and Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Perambur (Chennai) and would be introduced in December.
“Three such coaches will roll out from ICF, Perambur in December this year. The first coach will be tagged in a regular train in the Kashmir Valley while the other two will be part of some train careening through the picturesque Araku Valley (K K Line, Waltair station) on the South-Eastern Railway,” Chairman and Managing Director of IRCTC A K Manocha said today.
The trains having such luxurious coaches giving an aerial view would be decided later, he added. These coaches, the first of its kind in India, were being manufactured at the ICF, Perambur and each coach would be built at a cost of around Rs four crore.
“The basic objective behind such a project is to promote tourism and woo upscale tourists from both India and abroad. There are some trains with glass ceiling in foreign countries, like Switzerland, which enjoy the patronage of tourists. We believe such coaches would also give a fillip to rail tourism in India,” Mr Manocha said.
Giving details of the project, Group General Manager (Infrastructure) IRCTC, Dham Ghaj Prasad, said the coaches with glass top ceiling would be the first of its type in India and would rival the best anywhere in the world.
“Work on the project started in 2015 with a series of meetings on the specification of the coach design. The first such coach is all set to roll out this month (October) itself. The coaches will be ultra luxurious with rotatable chairs to provide the passengers an aerial view through partly glass ceiling,” he said.
Further, the coaches would have ample leg space and also equipped with modern infotainment system for the benefit of tourists, he added. (agencies)
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