A very informative article on how the LHB Coaches are gathering rust due to awesome stupidity of CRS
.
A set of 65 newly-designed lightweight rail coaches
representing an investment of nearly Rs 100 crore is
lying...
more...

idle because the Civil Aviation Ministry’s
Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) has refused to
give Railways a mandatory clearance.
The CRS is demanding that Railways demonstrate the
passenger carrying ability of the coaches, known as
LS-3, by conducting trials with 400 people on each
coach. The Railways has turned down the proposition,
arguing that safety and speed trials of new coaches are
done using the designated weight and not people on
board. “Nowhere in the world are trials of rolling
stock conducted by making people sit in them. They
are always done with weight, which is the right thing
to do from engineering point of view,” said a senior
Railway Board official.
Railways’ Research Design and Standards Organisation
(RDSO) has already conducted successful trials by
running LS-3 coaches with 18.5 tonnes. The CRS was
just required to give a customary clearance, which it
has refused, saying suspension of the new coaches
might not stand overloading, a common occurrence in
Railways.The Railway Ministry has told the CRS that
the suspension of LS-3 coaches is superior to the
earlier version of coaches called LS-2 which are
running successfully for past one year. Countless
meetings for the better part of the year have failed to
break the impasse, during which time Railways has
incurred a loss of Rs 30 crore for not being able to
utilise the coaches for commercial purposes.
In a letter to the Chief CRS, Railways has also said that
introduction of many new trains announced in Rail
Budget is being held up because of the unavailability
of the coaches. Introduction of lightweight rakes is one
of the issues directly monitored by the PMO.
Decreasing the weight of coaches results in saving fuel
apart from other benefits.
After a recent meeting with CRS did not show signs of
a breakthrough, Railways Ministry has started
exploring the option of utilising a 14-year-old legal
opinion from Law Ministry, wherein it was decided in
the eyes of Railway Act, 1989, that in cases of such a
logjam involving CRS, Railway Ministry was the
‘central government’ which is empowered to take a
final call. An internal note was issued in Rail Bhawan
to take this course of action.
Commissioner of Railway Safety (Central Zone) Chetan
Bakshi told The Indian Express that he has received a
clarification from the RDSO and the matter might be
resolved soon. Railways says that it will wait till the
end of the month. If the approval does not arrive by
then, it will go ahead without the CRS clearance.
- The IndianExpress...