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Originally Posted by darklord

I saw these bearing temp plates being driven towards Thiruvananthapuram. Guess new

I counted six.

Yes, I saw in yesterday's Malayalam newspaper (Bangalore edition) 10 multi axle coaches were handed over to Kerala Government, in fact the driver training was also completed.
Considering a week for registration and permit, Kerala SRTC is planing start to running these for long weekend falling in May 01st.

Cheers!

[prmd_cochin]

Few photos i managed of the KSRTC volvos arriving in Kerala.

[ontheroad]

Heard that they are fitted with seatbelts in all seats. If it is true, it is a great initiative by KeSRTC management.

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Originally Posted by ontheroad

Heard that they are fitted with seatbelts in all seats. If it is true, it is a great initiative by KeSRTC management.

May be true and a welcome move indeed but it is pity to see the driver in the last image isn't still wearing a seat belt on its first run home. KeSRTC management should educate safety to its its fellow drivers at first place.

Cheers!

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by prmd_cochin

Few photos i managed of the KSRTC volvos arriving in Kerala.

Originally Posted by ontheroad

Heard that they are fitted with seatbelts in all seats. If it is true, it is a great initiative by KeSRTC management.

More pictures on this thread:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commer...ml#post3420487

[aroonanand]

Has the schedule / routes for these new Multi Axle Volvos been published? When are they becoming operational?

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by aroonanand

Has the schedule / routes for these new Multi Axle Volvos been published? When are they becoming operational?

They are yet to announce routes. Bangalore-Trivandrum service is confirmed, so is Bangalore-Kozhikode. No confirmation about the remaining services.

Bangalore-Trivandrum service is expected to get rolling by May 01, 2014 (again, provisional information only).

Some more pics of the Volvo B9R buses of Kerala RTC. The buses have 49 semi-sleeper seats with art leather upholstery and two-point seat belts, Television for entertainment, charging points in all seats (window seats).

[harikr]

Read in newspaper today that the buses are denied permit to run in Karnataka due to the absence of side emergency exit door. As per Kerala RTO, emergency exits are required only at the back side, but Ka RTO needs side door. Some meeting is scheduled today between MD of KeSRTC and Ka RTO. Hope that it turns out good. But in the view of the recent accidents, it is better to install side emergency exit doors, IMHO.

[prashanthyr]

Surprising that KeSRTC ignored a basic requirement like emergency doors. And why exactly did Volvo supply the bus when it knows the rule?
I hope they can retrofit emergency doors and ply the buses to Bangalore, where they'll make money rather than internal Kerala routes, where they'll be white elephants

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by harikr

Read in newspaper today that the buses are denied permit to run in Karnataka due to the absence of side emergency exit door. As per Kerala RTO, emergency exits are required only at the back side, but Ka RTO needs side door.

The side door will be between the second last and third last row apart from emergency windows.

Originally Posted by prashanthyr

And why exactly did Volvo supply the bus when it knows the rule?

I hope they can retrofit emergency doors and ply the buses to Bangalore, where they'll make money rather than internal Kerala routes, where they'll be white elephants

KeSTRC has placed an order and would have penned down the requirement, Volvo or just the manufacturer that delivers vehicles at per requirements. I don't find complete fault with Volvo for not providing the rear door.

The side rear door can be retrofit without an issue.

Anurag.

[jayakumarkp]

But how many of these multi axles from private players have these rear exit doors? I doubt even the airavat multi axles have these doors.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by prashanthyr

Surprising that KeSRTC ignored a basic requirement like emergency doors. And why exactly did Volvo supply the bus when it knows the rule?

Quite interesting observation. KeSRTC ordered buses that had all breakable glasses. Except the front windshield, all the other glasses in the 10 multi-axle buses bought by KeSRTC are laminated glasses - which means, that you can literally break any of the side windows are jump out in case of an emergency.

The current pattern of fitting an emergency door is actually making things worse - the door is fitted in the most inaccessible manner - there is a seat near the door, and you need to climb on the seat, kick open the door and jump - as good as jumping out of the window. So what difference does it make in having a door?

And Volvo is bound to follows rules stipulated by the Central government, and not by concerned state governments. The customer makes a purchase order based on the rules in that particular state - the same thing happened here as well.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by silversteed

More pictures on this thread:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commer...ml#post3420487

Pramod, One more question. Are these buses fitted with speed governors in line with KaSRTC Volvo buses.
The last thing that the kerala govt needs is an accident involving their volvo bus. This will then provide the impetus to all private operators seeking a ban on volvo buses.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Pramod, One more question. Are these buses fitted with speed governors in line with KaSRTC Volvo buses.
The last thing that the kerala govt needs is an accident involving their volvo bus. This will then provide the impetus to all private operators seeking a ban on volvo buses.

AFAIK, these buses are speed locked at 80kmph.

Originally Posted by jayakumarkp

But how many of these multi axles from private players have these rear exit doors? I doubt even the airavat multi axles have these doors.

Almost all Airavat CC (Volvo multi-axle and Merc multi-axle) buses have the rear emergency exit doors. All the Kallada multi-axle buses that I saw last weekend, one of which was a B11R, also fitted with the rear emergency exit door. What intrigued me though was that a KaSRTC B7R, which I assume was running a 'special' special service (usually special services are done by run down Volvos, this one appeared worthy of the scrap-yard than the road) did not have the emergency exit door, nor did it have the rear glass - it was covered with a metal sheet. One one hand the KA RTO charges new buses that have wide and relatively safer emergency exits (case in point, Kerala SRTC's Super Deluxe buses with a large rear glass), and on the other hand, they let these dangerous contraptions like the Volvo I mentioned above be used for special services.

[prashanthyr]

Originally Posted by binaiks

Quite interesting observation. KeSRTC ordered buses that had all breakable glasses. Except the front windshield, all the other glasses in the 10 multi-axle buses bought by KeSRTC are laminated glasses - which means, that you can literally break any of the side windows are jump out in case of an emergency.

The current pattern of fitting an emergency door is actually making things worse - the door is fitted in the most inaccessible manner - there is a seat near the door, and you need to climb on the seat, kick open the door and jump - as good as jumping out of the window. So what difference does it make in having a door?

And Volvo is bound to follows rules stipulated by the Central government, and not by concerned state governments. The customer makes a purchase order based on the rules in that particular state - the same thing happened here as well.

Thanks for the clarification Binai. I am surprised that the emergency doors in Volvos are designed such that they will be practically unusable in the unfortunate event of an emergency. To be honest, I have never travelled in a Volvo in India...

I feel safety rules should be centrally administered and not left to the whims and fancies of local RTOs