Title - Railway ropes in National Institute of Design to give coaches facelift

AHMEDABAD: After successfully designing the blue colour scheme coaches for Mumbai local trains, National Institute of Design (NID) is set to redesign mainstream Indian Railway coaches as well. NID has signed an MoU with the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at Chennai to redesign sleeper, II AC and AC chair car coaches. From interior panels to lighting to toilets, all the elements will be redesigned to cater to the changing needs of passengers with special focus on safety. "With changing times, passenger requirements have changed. There are a whole lot of things that people want in the journey. We want to cater to their needs", says S Srinivas, chief design engineer, ICF. "Our aim is to design coaches which are a mix of aesthetics, functionality and technology. We have done it in Mumbai before", said NID director Pradyumna Vyas. The project will also look into the passenger amenities for disabled people. The project will include colour schemes, interior and exterior signages.

"In a country like ours, we need rugged structures, the designs will be prepared keeping in mind the longevity factor", says Vyas. "We are looking for design changes which are easy to manufacture, easy to maintain and can survive the strain because we have large number of long-distance trains", adds Srinivas.

ICF is the premier production unit of Indian railways at Chennai manufacturing 1,600 railway passenger coaches every year.