Bhubaneswar: The East Coast Railway (ECoR) is planning to upgrade some of its trains under ‘Project Utkrisht.’ The process has already commenced on trial basis.
The ECoR has upgraded the Puri-Durg Express and introduced many new facilities for passengers.
The Railways is planning to upgrade 140 rakes of 66 pairs of trains across the country under ‘Project Utkrisht’.
The upgraded Puri-Durg Express had its maiden trip Tuesday from Puri. Ten rakes from the Bhubaneswar Coaching Depot in the Khurda Road Division and 11 rakes from the Puri Coaching Depot have been picked for makeover under the project.
An official from the ECoR General Manager (GM)’s office told Orissa POST that many new facilities have been provided in the train. This will be replicated in other select trains in the zone.
The Puri-Durg Express has been given better toilets, passenger areas and exteriors. The exterior of the coaches has been painted yellow and dark brown making the trains look unique.
The ECoR has placed special emphasis on improving the quality of toilets in the train by providing epoxy, PVC flooring with Z-Matt, double acting flushing valve and hand spray in AC coaches and air exhausters in all coaches.
Some of the new facilities provided are LED lights, new fans and Braille signage for visually impaired passengers. Paintings and photo frames have been provided inside first class AC coaches. Stickers on rail heritage, Swachh Bharat and other topics also have been installed on aluminium composite boards inside the coaches.