Indian Railways: Vande Bharat trains to get`First-in-India`; Tata Steel-made 180 degrees rotating seats

Tata Steel, the country's most trusted steel company, has been entrusted with the task of manufacturing seats for the state-of-the-art train 'Vande Bharat Express' of Indian Railways. Interestingly, this seat can be rotated up to 180 degrees.

The supply of these special seats to the railways will start from the month of September. However, this will be the first such seating arrangement in the country. A deal worth around Rs 145 crore has been signed between Tata Steel and Indian Railways.

Debashish Bhattacharya, vice-president (technology and new materials business), Tata Steel, says the company's composites division has been ordered to provide seats for 22 trains of the Vande Bharat Express.

Devashish Bhattacharya said, 'These are specially designed seats. These can be rotated up to 180 degrees and will be given the same facilities as airplane seats. This is a first of its kind supply of train seats in India.'

Designed for Vande Bharat trains, these seats are made of fiber-reinforced polymer. Apart from being comfortable, these seats will also contribute to the safety of the passengers. A fully domestically developed Vande Bharat train can run at a speed of 130 kmph.

Tata Steel plans to spend Rs 3,000 crore on research and development activities by 2025-26. This is part of the target to take Tata Steel to the top 5 steel companies globally by 2030. The company seems to be paying more attention to research and development.

Plant to be set up in Maharashtra - Tata Steel vice president says Tata Steel is setting up a new plant at Khopoli in Maharashtra to manufacture Tata Steel sandwich panels.

The sandwich panels manufactured at this plant will be used for interior decoration of railway and metro coaches. Special care has also been taken regarding the safety of passengers. These seats will be supplied for the first time in India.