Goyal announces vistadome coaches for Nilgiri Mountain Railway

In good news for the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday announced that all mountain railway will now have vistadome coaches.

He said the decision was taken to enhance the passenger experience and modernise Indian Railways.

"Latest addition of Vistadome coach is in Nilgiri Mountain Railway," Goyal said at a press conference here.

The Minister said the decision to provide vistadome coaches in Nilgiri Mountain Railway was taken after the positive feedback was received from the passengers on the existing routes.

"Now, 2 Meter Guage coaches have been modified to vistadome coach by Golden Rock Workshop, Tiruchirappalli for Nilgiri Mountain Railway," Goyal said.

Goyal said that order for hundred Vistadome coaches has been given to the concerned production unit of Indian Railways.

According to the railway ministry officials, three vistadome coaches are running between Dadar and Madgoan, in Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh and in Kashmir Valley while four hill railways have already been provided with vistadome coaches.

The officials said that total 13 vistadome coaches are presently available.

Vistadome coaches have large windows on the sides and glass panels on the roof to provide better viewing experience.

Curreently Darjeeling Railway has four vistadome coaches, Kalka Shimla Railway has two such coaches and Kamgra Valley Railway and the Matheran Hill Railway has one vistadome coach coach.

The minister then said that under the station illumination project 190 stations have been illuminated with LED lighting.

"We have identified 500 stations for illumination at par with airport standard," he said.

Railways has selected 190 Stations for improvement in illumination level at par with airport standards. According to railway officials, till date 100 stations have already been upgraded and work at other Stations is going on at a rapid pace and likely to be completed by April, 2019.

"And due to overwhelming response received from public, it has now been decided to improve illumination levels at 500 additional stations," the Minister said.

Goyal also congratulated the officers of Indian Railways and RailTel for implementing the e-office project in time-bound manner.

The e-office project aims to usher in more efficient, effective and transparent inter-government and intra-government transactions and processes.

According to the railway officials, Indian Railways will now shift from manual filing system to E-office for its day to day activities to bring transparency and efficiency in functioning.

--IANS

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