No plan to prematurely replace AC train coaches: Govt

New Delhi, Nov 24 (UNI) The government today said it would not prematurely replace AC coaches in trains despite the Montreal Protocol, which calls for phasing out of R-12 refrigerant by 2010.

''There will be no premature condemnation of AC coaches as aresult of the Montreal Protocol. Only those coaches which complete their stipulated life before 2010 will be phased out, Minister of State for Railways R Velu told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

Mr Velu said out of about 4200 AC coaches, 780 coaches, with R-12 refrigerant, were manufactured before 1994. About 300 coaches out of 780 would complete their service life by 2010 and will be phased out in normal course. The remaining 480 coaches will be converted by 2010 with environment-freindly gas.

The Minister said after 1994 the Railways had already switched over to manufacturing AC coaches with environment-friendly refrigerant.

He also informed that railway coach factories were manufacturing about 350 AC coaches every year to meet its additional and replacement requirement.

Replying to another query, he said there was no joint plan of the Railway and the Civil Aviation Ministries for infrastructure building over the next five years.

With regard to dedicated freight corridors, Mr Velu said these would be constructed on the Western Corridor (from Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai to Tughlakabad and Dadri via Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Palanpur and Rewari) and the Eastern Corridor (from Ludhiana to Sonnanagr via Khurja and Mughalsarai) in Phase I followed by extension to deep sea port in Kolkata.

He, however, denied that his Ministry had approached the Centre, seeking a five-year exemption from paying dividend to build freight corridor.

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