Indian Railways’ Hubballi and Mysuru Workshops under the South Western Railway zone have developed one prototype each of High Speed Automobile Carrier (NMGH) coach from old GSCN coaches with a side door for loading two wheelers, with a capacity of 18 Tonnes. The NMGH coaches have been developed in one month. The Railway Ministry said these coaches will undergo oscillation trials before being deployed for operations across the Indian Railways network. Recently, the Central Railway zone, for the first time in Indian Railways, has also developed a prototype coach for loading automobiles with side entry as well as multiple improved features.
Last year, an NMGH coach was developed by Central Railways in coordination with Research Design and Standards Organisation and automobile manufacturers, from released and unused passenger coach, with higher payload of 12 Tonnes and speed potential of 110 km per hour along with various other improved features like wider opening, natural pipe light, pavement markers as well as retro reflective tape for guidance, strong floor with chequered sheet, improved fall plate arrangement for smooth entry as well as upgraded end door design with barrel lock for ease of locking.
Further, a new design automobile carrier has been developed by Parel workshop in association with Research Design and Standards Organisation, based on the interaction with two-wheeler industry as well as feedback received from BDUs. The new design automobile carrier boasts side entry as well as higher pay load capacity of 18 Tonnes compared to 12 Tonnes capacity of earlier version of NMGH. According to Central Railways, higher pay load of 18 Tonnes with side entry makes it universal coach which, other than a wide variety of automobiles, can also be used for parcel traffic. This coach is created by Parel Workshop in association with RDSO/Lucknow in a record time of only 30 days, Central Railways added.