India to replace coaches on crash-hit rail network

New Delhi : India will replace its existing fleet of old railway coaches with high-tech German-built ones after nearly 200 people were killed in disasters on the network in the last two months.

Thirty-nine people died when a train derailed on Saturday night in southern Andhra Pradesh state, exactly two months after 146 people died in a similar disaster near the northern city of Kanpur in November.

The state-run network, one of the world's largest, has been hit by several smaller incidents in the same period, including another crash near Kanpur on December 28 when two people were killed.

The deadly crashes have renewed concerns about the creaking colonial-era system, which experts say is suffering from chronic underinvestment and poor safety standards despite being a lifeline for millions.

Speaking to AFP on Monday, a spokesman for Indian Railways said that the government was now looking to phase out the old and conventional coaches designed by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai by 2018-19. 

"There will be zero production of the old ICF-designed coaches. They will be replaced by Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches by 2018-19," Anil Kumar Saxena said.

"The problem is not in replacing but about what to do with the existing fleet. We are looking at ways, we will find a solution soon."

The German-made LHB coaches are equipped with "anti-telescopic" technology which prevents coaches from crumpling and piling on top of each other in case of accidents, thereby cutting down on the number of fatalities.

The Indian railways is the world's fourth largest network which carries about 23 million people every day.