Soon, enjoy ride on swanky coaches to Shimla

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 29

Rail coaches on the 120-year-old Kalka-Shimla heritage track will soon wear a new look. New state-of-the-art indigenously manufactured coaches, each with a mini-pantry and bio-toilets, will replace the existing ones.

Comfy, Safe travel

• Noise and vibration-proof
• Equipped with bio-toilets
• Power windows in upper classes
• Slide windows in second class
• Power doors for safety, convenience
• Aircraft-like rail mounted seats
• Restaurant seating with luxury seats

The swanky narrow-gauge coaches, which have been developed by Rail Coach Factory (RCF) in Kapurthala, are reminiscent of red Swiss narrow-gauge carriages.

Asked when the new coaches will become operational on the heritage track, Amitabh Sharma, Executive Director, Information and Publicity, Ministry of Railways, said, “The trial run will commence soon.”

At present, the Kalka-Shimla track — a UNESCO world heritage site — uses designs for coaches that were made over a hundred years ago by Moghalpura workshop, which is now in Pakistan.

The Kalka-Shimla narrow-gauge track is a 96.6-km-long winding rail link with a 0.762m gauge. The line was opened in November 1903, just 12 years after the Delhi railway line was linked to Kalka in 1891.

When the RCF was given the responsibility to design and manufacture the coaches, there were some major issues. First, there was no digital data for modelling of narrow-gauge tracks for the development and verification of design. Second, there was no availability of design assumptions, limitations and procedures for verification and validation of the design as the original workshop is now in Pakistan.

Initially, 3D models were created using old blueprints and sketches available at the Kalka workshop. These models were then used as the baseline for the development of new designs of the bogies.

The Railway Board granted the final approval to the design in February last year. The coaches were categorised as first class AC chair car, AC chair car, non-AC chair car and power, luggage and guard cars.

The RCF manufactured two prototype shells in September 2022, which were tested by Research Designs and Standards Organisation in October 2022 for static stress analysis, officials said.

The interior of the coaches include noise and vibration proofing, anti-UV-coated window glasses, bio-toilets, power windows in upper classes, darkening vista glass in upper classes and slide windows in second class.

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