Railway engineers propose removing rotating seat in Vande Bharat EC coaches

Senior railway engineers have proposed eliminating the seat-rotation feature in the executive class of Vande Bharat trains, one of its distinguishing and discussed features, and making the seats sturdier to improve operational efficiency.

They contend the feature requires more space and makes the components prone to wear, resulting in frequent maintenance requirements.

The proposal was discussed at a recent conference of Principal Chief Mechanical Engineers (PCMEs), where coach production units floated the idea of doing away with the seat-rotation feature in these coaches and making the seats fixed, as in conventional Shatabdi and other trains.

The senior engineers also suggested that fixing the seats would free the space required for seat rotation, potentially allowing one additional row of seats to be added to the coach.

"In EC coaches of VB (Vande Bharat), the rotating feature of seats can be eliminated to make the seats sturdier," the minutes of the conference, compiled by the