INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Utkrisht (best) and Operation Swarn (gold) to provide more premium feeling to passengers travelling in national transport, railways has
decided to facelift first-class air-conditioned coaches of seven mail and express trains, a Railway Ministry official said on Sunday."The
first train with new plush interiors has been taken up in Kashi Vishwanath Express," said a senior railway ministry official, adding new
renovated coach has been added to train departing from New Delhi on Sunday.The new features in coach include new anti-grafitti vinyl
wrapping interiors, new curtains, properly worked out bathroom even with option of taking a shower, he said.The official said that PVC
official refused to share name of other trains which are set to get upgrade under this majore facelift programme.Last year, railways took up
focus on 10 key areas -- punctuality, cleanliness, coach interiors, toilets, catering, staff behaviour, security, entertainment,
housekeeping and regular feedback.Under this, Railways has planned to spend Rs 50 lakh on each train
The Rs 25-crore venture covers 30 trains in total - 15 Rajdhani and 15 Shatabdi Express trains.Under Project Utkrisht, railways planned to
upgrade about 140 rakes of trains in first phase that would be completed by March 2019.The railways has planned to upgrade about 500 rakes
on trains that still runs on old Integral Coach Factory design in second phase.Under Project Utkrisht, railways has granted Rs 60 lakh per
rake to upgrade its interiors and exteriors.The dustbin of coaches would be provided with garbage bag coach and toilets, PVC flooring will
be changed in case it is damaged, and faded coach panels will be replaced
The roof of coach will also be repaired wherever required.
