The Central Railway (CR) has come up with a door-closing mechanism for non-AC trains as a demo prototype, following Railway Minister Ashwini Vasihnaw’s directive after the Mumbra tragedy on June 9. The prototype is scheduled for presentation to Railway Board Chairman Satish Kumar during his Mumbai visit this weekend.

Both the Central and the Western railways have been tinkering with the closed-door prototypes in non-airconditioning trains for at least the last two decades, with no solution in sight.

The latest prototype has been touted as an important step in getting the closed-door problem right as officials have said they address the three major constraints in previous prototypes. First, the doors were to have louvres (angled slats) on doors. Second, coaches will have roof mounted ventilation units to pump in fresh air, since the earlier prototypes were said to be suffocating and thirdly the coaches will have vestibules for ease of movement from one coach to the other.