Presently, coaches are provided with signage, instructions, seat numbers, etc, which are mostly in the form of vinyl stickers/metallic plates and have no braille characters and cannot be read by visually-impaired passengers.
Now it is planned to use stickers with metallic base with printed characters embedded into it. Integral Coach Factory (ICF), a production unit of the Indian Railways has developed the specification for integrated braille signages in coaches in consultations with blind associations and input received from Research Design & Standards Organisation (RDSO) and issued to railways.
The first prototype coach is expected to be turned out from ICF in October 2013 for feedback. This is expected to be a major step for facilitation of visually-impaired passengers during journey in trains.
Braille printing will be superimposed on these stickers and same can be used by both a person with normal vision and visually impaired person.
With embedded picture/characters, there would not be any defacing even on repeated contacts/rubbing.
Flexible metal foil base and adhesive backing on these stickers make them easy to install on flat as well as on curved surfaces of the coach.