The Southern Railways will complete upgradation of 61 trains under the Utkrisht programme soon. The Tambaram-Nagercoil triweekly express, which was refurbished under the scheme, was flagged off from Tambaram on Wednesday by two senior employees, who are set to retire this month.
"In the first phase, 10 trains were upgraded under the Utkrisht programme. In the second phase, 64 trains were allotted for upgradation for Southern Railway. Out of that, three trains have been upgraded. The upgradation of the remaining 61 trains will be completed soon," the Southern Railway official told IANS.
He said the total outlay for upgrading 64 trains in Southern Railway was Rs 67.75 crore.
Painted with apricot and red colours on the exterior, the Tambaram-Nagercoil Express has swanky interiors like hydrophobic coated wash basin; epoxy flooring in the toilet; vinyl wrapping of doorway and gangway; LED lights; bay mobile charging points; glowing berth number indication boards; odourless bio-toilets; WiFi infotainment in air conditioned coaches and others.
Utkrisht project involves upgradation of 640 train rakes for improvement in passenger amenities and comfort in the next two years at an estimated cost of Rs 400 crore. It involves giving new paint to the coaches, changing damaged seats and berths, refurbishing the toilets, providing LED lighting and braille inside the compartments and gangways, and enabling coach maintenance services onboard.
Kongu Express which runs between Coimbatore and Hazrat Nizamuddin was the first train to be flagged off under this project of the Southern Railways in December 2018. The coaches of the train were refurbished at a cost of Rs 60 lakh. Chennai-Sengottai bi-weekly Silambu Express also was refurbished under the project in February.
(With inputs from IANS)
