CR to change design and colour of reserved coach

Mumbai: In a bid to prevent confusion among commuters, the Central Railway (CR) will change the design and colour scheme of coaches meant for the physically-challenged on suburban services.

The CR has informed the Bombay high court that the railway administration will work out an alternate design scheme so that the coach reserved for persons with the disabilities and can be easily identified by commuters and the differently-abled.

The petitioner Nitin Arjun Gaikwad’s advocate, Jaydeep Tanna, told The Asian Age that the court has been informed by railway authorities that the CR would change the design and colour of the reserved handicapped coach of CR trains on the last hearing ie. June 11. “The same instructions will also be followed by the Western Railway too,” Mr Tanna said.

The lawyer added, “Unauthorised commuters shall be booked under section 91 read with section 95 of the Rights to Persons with Disabilities (RPD) Act, 2016. Under this Act, the punishment is of two years imprisonment and Rs 1 lakh fine or both. I have told Sachin Bhalode, the senior divisional security commissioner (DSC) of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), that the punishment should be mentioned in the coach design so that the unauthorised passengers do not encroach upon the coach.”

A commuter, Mukesh Lad (name changed on request), said, “Due to morning crowding at Dombivali station, I had mistakenly boarded a handicapped coach of a CSMT-bound train. If handicapped coaches were advertised in a huge font, it would end all confusion.”  

Another commuter, Ahemad Shaikh (name changed on request), who travels from Nallasopara to Matunga Road, said, “I had mistakenly boarded the handicapped coach of a Churchgate slow train due to heavy rush around 8 am. After the train left Nalasopara station, the shouts of passengers caused  me to realise that I was in the wrong coach.”