It was a ‘Beauty contest’ with a difference

One of the coaches that participated in the contest in Chennai on Monday.—
CHENNAI: It was a beauty contest with a difference. The contestants were not men or women sashaying down the ramp promoting a product but diesel locomotives and passenger coaches.
Refurnished and rejuvenated, the sparkling ‘steel beauties’ were cynosure of all eyes at the Chennai Central station here on Monday.
The participants – nine coaches from various divisions and workshops and five locomotives from diesel sheds of Southern Railway – were decked up in style to capture the attention of the jury and audience at the station, including General Manager Deepak Krishan.
They were judged mainly on their user-friendliness, safety record and additional passenger amenities.
These locomotives and coaches have been in operation for over 10 years, which are being overhauled by various loco sheds and workshops of Southern Railway. Some of the user-friendly amenities incorporated in the coaches included toilets for persons with disability, berth numbers in Braille for visually challenged persons, coach indication boards and GPS-based information system, provision of water purifier and reading light for reservation chart.
The General Manager said some of the features were innovative and would be studied and implemented in coaches in a phased manner when the coaches came for periodic overhauling.
The locos were judged by a panel of judges on the basis of their age, running condition, including painting, cleanliness, comforts to the pilots, safety equipment, energy conservation etc. The modifications in the locos were carried out based on feedback from the running staff.
In the coach contest the sleeper coach of Chennai Division was crowned the best decorated coach and the Tiruchi Division’s coach bagged the runner-up prize. Amongst the three workshops, Golden Rock and Carriage Works, Perambur won the joint first position.
The winners The 31-year-old loco, refurnished by Golden Rock, was adjudged the winner and the loco of Golden Rock and Erode Diesel shed joint second.
Mr. Krishan who gave away the trophies to the winners lauded the efforts put in by engineers and technicians and exhorted them to incorporate these features in all locos in the division.