Bengaluru :
The City Railway Station is likely to become the first station in the country to get a stairlift, a mechanical device to carry people up and down stairs.
Essentially a chair mounted on rails, the stairlift helps the elderly, differently abled and those with knee problems. It is new in India, but has been around in the United States since the 1930s, helping victims of polio negotiate stairs.
In Bengaluru, product testing is under way on Platform 1 since Thursday, and so far, no problems have been reported. A woman passenger, weighing 120 kg, was among those who volunteered to test the stairlift.
Dr Arun Kumar Manocha, chairman and managing director, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), Delhi, is in town to demonstrate the technology to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.
“The stairlift is imported from the Netherlands from a reputed company with a long innings in manufacturing safety products. It meets European passenger safety standards,” Manocha said.
The company’s Indian franchisee is in Bengaluru and so the City Station emerged as a natural choice to test the technology.
IRCTC is only looking at Platform 4 as it is the only one that lacks a pedestrian subway, Manocha added. The staircase is ‘Z’-shaped with a flight of stairs followed by a landing and another flight of stairs.
“We are looking at introducing two stairlifts, one for each flight of stairs. The passenger will have to walk the one or two metres between the two,” he told Express.
The cost of the two stairlifts and the 15 metres of railing it needs will work out to around Rs 6 lakh, he said. “We initially planned installing a railing on the flat surface also so that the passenger need not disembark and all steps leading to Platform 4 could be covered in one go. But it worked out very expensive (Rs 16 lakh),” he said.
New Tech in Station to Help Seniors Climb Stairs
The equipment and the railings can be installed in just two hours. If trials succeed in Bengaluru, many stations across the country will have it.
It works out much cheaper than an escalator or a lift, which require more time and space for installation, Manocha said.
Simple Apparatus
The stairlift, which can carry a passenger load of 140 kg, runs on mains, but will also have a chargeable battery so that it does not stop midway in case of a power disruption.
Initially, an attendant will man the operations, but gradually, the public will be allowed to handle it, Manocha said, describing the procedure as simple. To ensure safety, it will have a seatbelt.
After being approved by Suresh, the stairlift has to be okayed by the directors of IRCTC.
The operation is likely to begin in three months. IRCTC is installing the stairlift as part of a corporate social responsibility initiative.
“The Delhi passport office introduced a stairlift recently, but it was not working when I checked it out a few days ago,” Manocha said.
At the City Station, the IRCTC has also donated flashlights and horns for golf carts, four sophisticated wheelchairs (Rs 12,000 each) and a superior filtration system that can purify 200 litres of water an hour.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by S. Lalitha / April 04th, 2015