It sure was a beauty contest with a difference. The cat-walk was a pair of rails and the beauties ten-15 year old railway coaches, done up to make train travel a pleasure.

The four coaches put on display on Monday by the Carriage and Wagons Workshops, Perambur incorporated many special features.

For one there was more room at the entrance of the coaches, emergency exits, better lighting, magazine racks, litter bins, air freshener in toilets and small amenities that will go a long way in making travel better. One of the coaches had special facilities for the handicapped and the infirm -- a ramp that could be dismantled and special toilet seats, besides side railings for them to hold on to.

A four-member team of Southern Railway officials headed by the additional general manager S Gopalakrishnan adjudged `Mysore beauty', a creation of Central Workshops, Mysore South, the best. Carriageand Wagons Workshops, Perambur and Locomotive Workshops, Perambur, bagged the second and third prizes.

Southern Railway senior mechanical engineer S Krishnamurthy said the concept had been introduced to enthuse the engineering staff to innovate. The winning teams will be given incentives and the special features introduced in the coaches depending on the general acceptance. The coaches with an approximate life of 25 years were sent for overhaul once every year when Rs 2-3 lakh were spent on them. There were 5,000 coaches in the stock of Southern Railway.