On 4 November, Coimbatore railway station launched Braille facilities
for visually impaired travellers. With this latest initiative, Coimbatore
railway station becomes the first station under Salem railway division to
have exclusive facilities for visually impaired people. The venture was
undertaken by Bengaluru based NGO ‘Anuprayaas’ and this is their fourth
station where they have introduced Braille facilities after successfully
launching them at Mysuru, Bengaluru and Borivali stations.
The Coimbatore railway station is known for taking steps to
make premises accessible and disabled-friendly. There are wheelchair ramps
and accessible toilets here, initiatives undertaken by the NGO Swarga
Foundation. Now the station will be first under the Salem
Railway Division to have facilities for visually impaired
travellers. This has been facilitated by Bengaluru NGO
Anuprayaas. Braille signage and tactile maps have been
introduced across the station.
There is a huge flow of visually impaired passengers that use the station and
this will surely help them. There are two Braille maps installed in key
locations providing a layout of the station.Braille booklets give passengers
details about the station and surrounding areas. The Braille signage gives
details about where the lifts and escalators are. There are even platform
indicators in Braille, all facilities to enable independent travel.
Panjam Cajla, Founder, Anuprayaas, says that Railways
officials were glad to introduce these facilities.
We completed all the works a few weeks back. We had a lot of support from
the officials as well. This project was undertaken for the Indian railways
and we are aiming to make more railway stations accessible for visually
impaired travellers. We have already been getting good feedback about
Coimbatore station as well. – Panjam Cajla, Founder,
Anuprayaas
The team at ‘Anuprayaas’ has already made Mysuru, Bengaluru and Borivali
station in MUmbai accessible for visually impaired people. With the
completion of Coimbatore, they have hit four. Now, they are all set to
provide Braille facilities to Chandigarh station, which will make it North
India’s first station with Braille facilities. “These new Braille facilities
are definitely going to help a lot of people because I have personally seen
many visually impaired travellers struggling to commute at the station”, says
Swarnalatha J, Founder, Swarga Foundation.
The Braille facilities were done after consulting with experts. In case a
traveller has any grievances, they can approach the station director.
Also Read: Coimbatore Junction railway station to open exclusive parking
spaces for disabled people
