Double Decker Trains In India

Double Decker Trains In India

Based upon the Rail Budget Feb 24th 2010 pressented by Mamata Banarjee, Double Decker Train building started at the Rail Coach Factory (RCF) of Kapurthala,in Punjab,boasts of developing a prototype of the country's first air conditioned double decker coach.The officials of the factory claim that the double-decker coach has been completed in a record time of eight months.

RCF’s General Manager Pardeep Kumar said that the preliminary testing of the double-decker prototype has been conducted successfully, and it would be rolled out next month for trials.

“We have made India’s first double-decker AC coach in the RCF. We have completed a prototype of the coach and the first stage of testing of the coach has also been completed successfully this month. Earlier also, double-decker coaches were made but they did not have any AC and had some or the other manufacturing problems. So, we have overcome all those problems and made this coach with a completely new design,” Kumar said.

The new coach shell design is capable of running at a speed of 160 kilometer/hour, and it will be 1.5 feet higher than the normal coach and will have a seating capacity of about 130. 

Travelling in an intercity air-conditioned double decker train, as proposed by the railway minister, could be the first of its kind experience for many, but the concept is not totally new to Puneites who have experienced travelling in non-AC double-decker coaches two decades back.

In early 80s, the railways coined the idea of non-AC double-decker coaches which were attached to the Pune-Mumbai Sinhagad express. However, after a few years, the coaches were replaced by the normal ones without citing any reason.