Vistadome Coach

The Minister of Railways Shri Piyush Goyal recently announced that Indian Railways has successfully completed the trial run of new Vistadome tourist coaches. These coaches were manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai.

About Vistadome Tourist Coaches

• Currently there are 13 Vistadome coaches operating in in India. They are operating in in Araku Valley, Dadar and Madgaon, Darjeeling-Himalayan Railway, Kangra Valley Railway, Kalka-Shimla Railway, Nilgiri Mountain Railway, Matheran Hill Railway.
• Vistadome coaches are made with see through glass roof tops and wide Windows to offer panoramic view.
• The coaches are also fitted with the controlled opalescence in the glass roofs.
• The coaches have passenger information system, rotatable seats, automatic sliding doors, white doors for persons with disabilities, Mini pantry.
• The cost of manufacturing one Vistadome coach is 4 crores of Rupees.
• The coaches also provide safety measures. The glasses used are shatter resistant and film coated.

Kalka-Shimla Railway

Kalka-Shimla railway is one of the very few Heritage Railways in the world. It is recognised by UNESCO. The Kalka-Shimla Railway was added to the UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008.

It was built under the direction of Herbert Septimus Harington between 1998 and 1903. It was built to connect Shimla, the summer capital of India during British Raj with the rest of the Indian Railway system.

It is one of the three Mountain Railway lines of India. The other two are Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and Nilgiri mountain Railway. All the 3 mountain Railways are designated as UNESCO World Heritage site under the name “Mountain Railways of India”. The fourth mountain Railway called the Matheran hill Railway is on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage site. All the four mountain Railways are narrow gauge Railways. The Nilgiri mountain Railway is the only rack railway in India. The rack Railway is a steep grade Railway with toothed rack rail. It is usually operated on steep grade slopes above 10%.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2020