INDIAN RAILWAYS

Our trains need automatic doors, vacuum toilets

TOPSHOTS-INDIA-POLITICS-RAILWAY-BUDGET Though many trains have bio-toilets, these types of modern system will not work unless the passengers change their mindset

Incidents of passengers falling to death from trains are on the rise. Most of the accidents occur when passengers are hit by the heavy doors in a moving train. It is time the railways got rid of heavy doors and replaced them with automatic doors that are used in metro trains. Sensor-operated doors are being used in trains in many countries abroad. The doors that open only when the train arrives at a station not only help avoid accidents but also reduce considerably the menaces of theft, illicit sale of food and begging aboard trains.

At present, people can get into a train wherever and whenever the train stops. Considering their design, it is not practical to install automatic doors on the existing trains in India, but automatic doors can be fitted to the new LHB coaches that are based on technology from Germany. Since the government has announced that all the old coaches would be discarded and LHB coaches would be used in their places, Indian railways can switch over to automatic doors in a phased manner. The government needs to implement its decision at the earliest.

The trains should have a centralised system to operate the doors, and the guard or the loco pilot has to be in charge of this operation. The passengers should kick their habit of getting down on the platform whenever a train stops.

I have seen automatic doors in train in most of the countries I have travelled. Along with the heavy doors, toilets too must change. The system in India of excreta being dumped on the rail tracks is unheard of in many countries.

Though many trains have bio-toilets, these types of modern system will not work unless the passengers change their mindset. Most bio-toilets in our trains are not functioning since liquor bottles and sanitary napkins are deposited in them. Vacuum toilets that are used in aircraft are more suited to us than bio-toilets. At a time when smartphones are widespread even in villages, vacuum toilets are not a luxury. It is high time the railways changed over to vacuum toilets even though it entails extra spending.

The main problem with the Indian railways is that, be it the train’s door or toilet, the engineers do not think differently. And, this is why the railways has changed little after independence. Besides, engineers with the Indian railways are generally doing management-related jobs instead of engineering-related ones. 

Instead of copying foreign models as such, they should come up with new ideas, as well as additions and designs, taking into consideration regional contexts and needs. Changing governments are not giving importance to the integrated development of the railway. What is witnessed in all sectors in our country is the authorities stepping in to find a solution whenever a problem arises and later abandoning the effort once the public forgets it.

(The writer is former Chief Commercial Manager of Indian railways and a prominent travel blogger.)

This article first appeared in the Malayala Manorama

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