Lucknow Metro becomes first to use ultraviolet rays to disinfect trains

This picture has been used for representational purpose

The Lucknow Metro has set another record by becoming the first metro project in the country to use ultraviolet (UV) rays to sanitise train coaches, a senior official said on Friday.

The UP Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) has taken inspiration from the New York Metro''s experiment to sanitise trains with UV lamp rays, it said.

"Passenger safety and comfort has always been our topmost priority and whatever we do is in sync with our objective to provide the safest and the most convenient mode of public transport to the people," UPMRC Managing Director Kumar Keshav said.

Lucknow Metro has become the pioneer of metro train sanitisation through UV technology, the UPMRC said.

"When we started token sanitation by UV radiation, we received overwhelming response and appreciation from our passengers. Now, with train sanitation by ultraviolet rays, we want to assure all our passengers that their Lucknow Metro was, is and will always be the safest mode of transport," Keshav said.

"We are seeing a significant increase in ridership everyday and it is this confidence of our commuters that pushes us to put in more and more efforts to make their travel enjoyable and hassle-free," he added.

Keshav said that Lucknow Metro was also the first metro project in the country to have started token sanitisation through ''UV box'' which was developed in-house.

Giving boost to the Make in India mission, Lucknow Metro in consultation with an Indian firm that deals in tube lights used in sanitation apparatus, has developed a UV sanitisation apparatus which works on ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) disinfection method, the UPMRC said.

It uses short wavelength ultraviolet (Ultraviolet C or UV-C) light of 254 nm UV-C to kill or inactive micro-organisms by destroying nucleic acids and disrupting their DNA, it said.

The apparatus which was certified by DRDO in October, last year, sanitises the entire coach in seven minutes and as added care, "We are sanitising each coach for 15 minutes", the release said.

The best part of this initiative is that it is very economical, costing 1/40th of the cost involved in sprinkling of manual sanitislsers, it added.

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