What are LHB coaches that ‘reduced toll’ in Odisha train accident?

At least 278 people have been left dead and more than 1,200 injured in the Odisha train accident. But a railways officer has said that things could have been far worse. According to the officer, the Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches reduced the toll of the accident by at least half. But what are these LHB coaches? Let’s take a closer look: What are they? According to The News Minute, the coaches were designed by the German company previously known as Linke-Hofmann-Busch. The Indian Railways first began producing these coaches at the Railway Coach Factory in Punjab’s Kapurthala, as per News18. The LHB coaches were first introduced in 1995.

According to CNBC, these coaches are specially designed to avoid pile-ups.

The Indian Railways considers them far safer than the coaches that come from the Integral Coach Factory (ICF). What are their features? The coaches come with advanced features including:

• A hydraulic suspension system
• Disc brakes
• A centre buffer coupling system
• Side suspension

The railways officer told News18 the end-wall of these coaches have been designed with stanchions or a barrier to absorb impact. This avoids coaches piling up on each other during an accident. The coaches also have a crumpled zone – which absorbs kinetic energy during a collision. The underframe near the end walls and below the toilets contains a tubular pipe structure that absorbs energy during a collision – which protects the main passenger compartment. The interiors of LHB coaches are designed to minimize injury to passengers. The modern centre buffer coupler is also designed to prevent coaches from piling up. ‘Casualties would have been manifold’ The officer told News18 if the trains had the old ICF coaches, the casualties would have been far higher. The railways officer told News18 the impact was akin to a “mad steel giant crushing into a hill”. [caption id=“attachment_12704852” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The coaches of the trains at the accident site. News18[/caption] “Understandably, the 12 times lighter Coromondal Express sustained the maximum injury”.

“However, it would have been manifold, if not for the coaches,” he added.

Though the Coromandel Express and Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express had LHB coaches, the high speed of the Superfast Express caused the pile-up. “Both Coromandel and SMVB-Howrah trains had LHB coaches. They are far safer and they avoid climbing on each other if there is a collision. But the collision happened because of the SMVB-Howrah Express’s speed,” TNM quoted railway officials as saying. Indian Railways and LHB After the German company was taken over by Alstom Transport Deutschland, the coaches are now referred to as Alstom LHB GmbH. “The first set of four Alstom LHB design coaches were rolled out in December 2002. The key improvements of this new generation passenger coach influence performance parameters of passenger comfort, safety, better availability and life cycle costs.” As per CNBC, has assigned the manufacturing of LHB coaches to three facilities – Integral Coach Factory (ICF-Chennai), Rail Coach Factory (RCF-Kapurthala), and Modern Coach Factory (MCF-Rai Bareli). According to The Times of India, 19 trains of the South East Central Railway (SECR) have replaced ICF coaches with LHB coaches. The SECR_,_ which has 624 LHB coaches in 19 trains, now plans to replace all ICF coaches at the earliest. According to The News Minute, a parliamentary committee in 2016 in its safety and security in railways report noted that in case of derailments, LHB coaches see fewer casualties as they do not pile on each other. The committee had advised that the Indian Railways use only LHB coaches.

According to News18, the Indian Railways has produced around 33,000 LHB coaches thus far.

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Till 31 January, 4,175 LHB coaches were produced to ensure convenient and faster mobility. ‘Around 40 people died of electrocution’ Over 100 bodies have not been identified and have been kept in hospitals and mortuaries. Around 40 bodies recovered from the Coromandel Express involved in the triple train crash had no visible injury marks.

They are believed to have died of electrocution, the GRP said.

An FIR registered at the Government Railway Police station at Balasore indicated that live overhead wires which snapped when the accident occurred, entangled with a few coaches, electrocuting the passengers trapped in them. Sub-inspector of Police, P Kumar Nayak in his FIR said, “Many passengers succumbed to injuries caused due to the collision and electrocution (after) coming in contact with overhead LT (low tension) line.” The overhead wires snapped as coaches which toppled over during the triple train accident overturned electrical masts, said officials. The CBI on Tuesday took over the Balasore GRP case No. 64 registered by Odisha Police. Railway officials have indicated that possible “sabotage” and tampering with the electronic interlocking system, which detects the presence of trains, led to the Friday accident. The crash involving Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, which were carrying over 2,500 passengers, and a goods train laden with iron ore occurred around 7 PM on Friday near the Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore, about 250 km south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.