Seating is one of the crucial areas for a comfortable journey, and hence the need was felt to redesign it with focus on Indian passengers need for relaxing and working during travel.

The Indian Railways have a fairly large number of AC Chair Car coaches plying on many Inter‐city routes all over India, particularly in the northern and western sectors. Most of these journeys are short‐term ones ranging from 3 hours (Mumbai - Surat Shatabdi route) to maximum 9 hours duration (Mumbai‐ Goa Jan Shatabdi route).

A brief study of the existing system and experience of traveling on these routes not only reiterated the need for a re‐design of the environment to provide a more comfortable journey for all travelers on these routes, but also demanded a radical solution for attracting more travelers.

Aim of the Project:
The project aims at enhancing the comfort level of the passengers traveling by Second Class AC Chair Car coach. Most of the Budget Airlines offer very affordable rates, connecting most of the major cities in India and are providing stiff competition to the Indian Railways in this concern. With extra comfort and luxury offered for a slightly higher price, air travel has become more feasible in a developing country, like India, today. Hence, the need to enrich the experience of traveling by the AC Chair Car was identified and developed by the design team.

Product Brief:
Design of Seating for AC Chair Car
- Which caters to Indian passenger needs of relaxing/working during travel between cities.
The final design addresses to a number of issues related to head support, footrest catering to Indian style of sitting, adjustability, safety and serviceability.

Case Study Downloads:
• Redesign of Seating for Indian Railways - AC Chair Car - pdf