[TorqueyTechie]

Indian railways have introduced a vistadome coach on the Mumbai-Goa route from today. This special coach with glass-roof Vistadome, rotatable chairs and hanging LCDs, offering panoramic view of the surroundings would be attached to Dadar-Madgaon Jan Shatabdi Express.

Mr.Sunil Udasi , spokesperson for the central railways mentioned bookings for this 40 seater coach is available at all computerized reservation centers as well as online and the fares are equivalent to that of the executive class in Shatabdi Express without catering charges. The reservation charges, GST and any other charges will be levied in addition to the basic fare. Trains will run for 3 times a week during the monsoon period and 5 days once it is over.

Quoting from the article,

"Commuters travelling on this train will have this special coach with a glass-roof Vistadome, rotatable chairs and hanging LCDs for entertainment. A unique feature of this Rs. 3.38 crore 40-seat coach is the double-wide reclining passenger seats that could be rotated 360 degrees for a better sightseeing experience," Mr Udasi added

Couple of pictures of the coach.




Source: http://www.ndtv.com/mumbai-news/gorg...ome-topstories

Mods, please merge if there is already a thread for it.

[srishiva]

Great. With the broad gauge tracks, they could add a lot of special coaches to the existing Shatabdi and Jan Shatabdi trains. Good value add.

[abhishek46]

Hope they provide the passengers with some umbrellas also.
When the Mid day Sun will shine, the glass ceiling will quickly turn the magnificent views into a scorching UV laden tandoor.

[ksameer1234]

Originally Posted by abhishek46

Hope they provide the passengers with some umbrellas also.

Looks like Indian Railways heard you!!

One of the stand-out features of the Vistadome coaches is the glass roof that boasts of electrically controlled opalescence. This means the roof can be made transparent for passengers to get a panoramic view of their journeys.

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai...Af3EkkDiK.html

[tharian]

I hope travelers who are genuinely interested in rail travel books on this coach.

I have traveled on Shatabdi between Chennai and Bangalore and hate it when passengers roll down the shade just because they got a bit of sun on their arm and don't bother to roll it up later.
They don't realize there are people seated behind or in front who share the same window because of the size.
Defeats the purpose of having large windows.

I had a co-pass once when travelling from Chennai who had the window seat and never looked out side the window once during the 5 hour journey. He was on his laptop or phone the whole time. What better entertainment than watching the world go by from a train window.

On this coach, being a sight seeing coach, IR could have done away with the TV's unless they are there to show real time info and not some movie or ad.

[motorpsycho]

Where are the overhead luggage racks? Will it be under the seat?

[sharktale]

Classic example of copying without applying rationality.

These glass-roof coaches are well suited for cold/cool countries which do not receive as much sunlight as our beloved land. The heat entering would be excessive during the day, and using a very low ( i think 5-20%) VLT film can only solve that issue.

Our family faced this problem when we got ourselves a holidayhome around Kolkata. We thought that a slanting roof-glass windows in the living room would add to the oomph factor.
It's a total disaster. Even with two ACs on, the sting of the sunrays just hit you bad enough to make you go back.

Similar case is in the glass lined buildings! India does not need light that way, because with it comes the heat, which inturn makes the HVAC work harder than required.

So much for looking cool. Is it peer pressure? :P

[MadiMaama]

Currently, there is a Vistadome coach that is running between Visakhapatnam and Araku. The coach is attached to the Kirandul Passenger. While going to Araku, it gets reasonably good Patronage. On the return run, it runs empty as the Kirandul Passenger is usually delayed by a couple of hours.
Also, while going to Araku, the coach is at the very end of the train and gives a good view of the scenery. In the return run, it is right behind the engine and it gets dark very early thus, defeating the purpose of the coach

[tharian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOI9ugO_jrc

Worth a trip just for the Konkan belt by rail.

[ssambyal1980]

Though this would mean lots of fun for the travellers who instead of remaining engrossed in silly TV shows or movies on the LCD screens like to enjoy through the windows the natural panorama the country side has on the offing. But on the negative side having too many glass windows in the coach would lead to trapping of lot of heat during day time in summers resulting in much inconvenience to the travellers. Such coaches are quite common on many European routes and are practical too due to the cool climes of the areas where such trains operate. With India being a tropical nation the summers last for a minimum of eight months as such these kind of experiments by the railways might backfire. The current arrangement of large side windows is sufficient enough to offer decent views around albeit with the condition that windows are regularly cleaned and are promptly replaced in case of damage which impairs the view.