Design did not meet Centre norms and launch of new A/c buses in TN to be delayed
Posted on: 21/Apr/2018 9:12:19 AM
The State Transport Minister, Mr. Vijayabaskar had promised in the past that new buses with air-conditioned would hit the roads by 31st of May.
The latest news that has come out now is this launch of new air-conditioned buses would not take place by the above mentioned date.
The reason is prototypes manufactured in Tamil Nadu and sent for approval by ARAI or Automobile Research Association of India were sent back as the design did not meet the standards set by the union road transport ministry.
An MTC official expressed his views on this and spoke about how the manufacturing and building of body was stopped temporarily and only after December 2017 it resumed once again.
In the year 2017 state transport minister Mr. Vijayabaskar grabbed many eyeballs when he said 2000 new buses for all the 8 state owned transport corporations would be procured. It must be noted that this included 100 air-conditioned buses for the city of Chennai. In as many as 23 units maintained by the state transport department the bodies of these buses are constructed.
Some time back union transport ministry caught the attention of many when it announced that all buses must adhere to the new bus body building code AS 052.
Parameters such as floor levels, seats and steps design plus fire safety, emergency exits, luggage rack is considered very important and meeting these parameters are must by the manufacturers and this is according to new code. It is compulsory that accreditation from ARAI is got.
According to a MTC official, prototype of government buses manufactured in TN were sent back as they did not adhere to provisions mentioned in the new bus code. As a result few changes were made in the design and it caused delay in the process.
This MTC official later hinted that the new buses would have less seating when compared to older buses and there would be more standing space for the passengers.
