Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala rolls out 15 coaches of 3-tier AC economy class

Tribune News Service

Kapurthala, June 1

Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, on Monday rolled out 15 coaches of 3-tier AC economy class in the presence of Ravinder Gupta, General Manager of RCF.

On this occasion, Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer, RCF, R K Mangla, other officers and employees were present. He said these coaches would be attached to various mail and express trains.

The prototype of the AC 3-tier economy class was rolled out on February 10 from RCF for oscillation trials in just three months after its inception. The AC 3-tier economy class is expected to offer AC convenience and pleasant travel to the masses while keeping it affordable.

The design of the coach includes redesigning the AC ducting to provide individual vents for each berth. The coach also has an improved and modular design of seats and berths, foldable snack tables in both longitudinal and transverse bays, injury free spaces and holders for water bottles, mobile phones and magazines. Individual reading lights and mobile charging points are provided for each berth in addition to the standard sockets.

Additional berths have been provided in the coach as the number of berths in the new coach has been increased from 72 to 83. The coach also has wider doors making convenience for specially-abled passengers. RCF has production plan of 248 coaches in current and next fiscal years.

Speaking on the occasion, Ravinder Gupta said AC economy class coach would provide the cheapest and finest AC travel in the world and is a landmark in the journey of RCF. This product will bring many changes in rail travel which will be now more convenient besides safer and faster. He said due to second wave of Corona and complying to the guidelines from the government, 50 per cent of RCF staff was put on production work.

Besides, due to the lockdown in most parts of the country, the supply of railway material to RCF was greatly affected. Despite this, RCF administration and staff was working with full commitment and had produced more than 100 coaches in the last month, which is a very encouraging figure regardless of the odds.