Chugging 'nearly silent'?

Nearly silent trains? That too in India? Well, that is what the Indian Railways is promising.

Starting December, the Indian Railways has said that it will run trains which are ‘nearly silent’ and not just that, add more seats of which some will be reserved for the physically handicapped.

How to trains become less noisy? The Railways will do away with one of the two generator coaches in each train. Instead it plans to power from the overhead electric supply system. It is these generator coaches which made the noise and with one being done away with, maybe the noise levels will come down. These the power cars generate a 105-decibel noise, which will be reduced to nil by year-end.

So with one power car going away, the coach will be replaced with a LSLRD (LHB Second Luggage, Guard & Divyaang Compartment), which will have a specially-designed cabin with six seats reserved for physically abled and additional 31 seats for chair car travellers and extra luggage space.

What happens in case of emergencies? Well, the Railways says there will be a ‘standby’ generator coach chugging along and that can be powered on in case the situation demands.

Well, seems like a nice idea and good to know that Railways paid attention to noise pollution. How far this will work and whether the seats reserved for the physically challenged will indeed go to them; now that remains a big question mark. Juts being cynical given the track record till now.