Central Railway: Old buggies to be reused at railway hospitals

One buggy costs around Rs 4.5 lakh. Pic/Rajendra Aklekar

The Mumbai division of Central Railway (CR) is planning to refurbish and upgrade old and discarded electric motor buggies at the stations to be used for railway hospitals. The battery-operated carts (BOC) at present facilitate passengers using mail express trains and ferry senior citizens and physically handicapped people at stations.

A buggy, which cost around Rs 4.5 lakh, can transport four people with small luggage to the platform. These carts operate at major stations such as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Dadar and Kurla LTT Terminus.

"After five years of use, the general practice is to discard electric buggies. But this time, we have decided not to scrap them but refurbish and upgrade them at railway workshops and use them in hospitals. The Central Railway has full-fledged hospitals at Byculla and Kalyan," DRM, CR Mumbai division, Rajneesh Goyal, said.

"The lifespan of these battery-operated vehicles has been increased after refurbishing and will now be helpful to ferry patients, senior citizens and unwell people. The hospital premises are vast, and they can be used in a positive manner," he added.