Railway Decided to Permanently Remove The Curatins From AC Coaches

 

   The coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 has increased, so the Indian Railways had taken decision to  temporarily remove window curtains and also advised passengers to bring their own blanket. However, the temporary decision has now been made permanent, as the Railways have now decided to roll out roller blinds for all their air-conditioned cars instead of curtains.

   It was advised to remove the berth curtain in 2018 with the recommendation of an inquiry committee. The committee said that curtains help to spread fire in coaches. However, curtains on the windows remained useful in hot and sunny climates to protect travelers from sunlight and heat.

   After several experiments, the Indian Railways has finally decided to put a polymer dispatched liquid crystal (PDLC) sheet in a coach of the Howrah-New Delhi AC Special train. In this, with the press of a passenger switch, the window glass can be made from transparent to opaque.

   The Polymer Dispatch Liquid Crystal (PDLC) installation was effective, but would have been expensive to apply on a large scale to all trains. Finally, the authorities decided to use inexpensive yet effective roller blinds in place of window curtains in all air-conditioned coaches from Thursday (1 April).

   Meanwhile, the railways have also decided to stop passengers from using onboard trains at mobile charging stations between 11 am and 5 am as a precaution against extinguishing the fire.

   This comes after recent incidents of fire in some trains. Many incidents of small fires, which are on long-haul trains, are caused by overcharging of electronic equipment.The railway has also announced a number of initiatives against carrying smoke and flammable items, which were the reason behind the recent fire onboard trains.