New Delhi, August 26: Much to the happiness of train travellers, rides on Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains from Delhi are all set to get smoother from October 2018! The train journeys are set to get smoother than before as the Indian Railways has decided to replace the couplers that connect coaches in trains. The existing Central Buffer Coupling (CBC) has weak shock absorbers due to which passengers sometimes feel jerks during the journey. A coupler is a device for connecting coaches with each other in a train. The equipment that connects the couplings to the rolling stock is known as the draft gear.

The new CBC would act as a safety measure as well. Chairman Railway Board Ashwani Lohani on Friday said that thirteen Shatabdi trains and 11 Rajdhani trains which arrive and depart from the national capital will now have the new design centre buffer coupler (CBC). The new design is equipped with balanced draft gear having high capacity shock absorbers and will to a large extent cut out the jerks experienced by passengers on board.

"The couplers will be replaced in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains running in Northern Railways by October this year. This will remove the jerks experienced by passengers on board trains," Lohani informed. According to a PTI report, the new CBC is also equipped with an anti-climbing mechanism to prevent coaches from toppling and climbing on each other at the time of derailments and accidents. It must be noted that the toppling of coaches causes maximum casualties during accidents.

Improving and enhancing passenger amenities in train coaches is a continual endeavour of the Indian Railways. Some of the policy decisions that have been taken include the provision of cushioned seats in General Second-class coaches, provision of bottle holder and snack table in Non-AC Sleeper Class coaches, provision of dustbins in Non-AC coaches among others.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 26, 2018 02:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).