Railways explains significance of ’X’ symbol behind last train coach
Mangalore Today News Network / NDTV
New Delhi, Mar 06, 2023: All of us have travelled in trains at some point of time. People who are keen observers notice a lot of things while travelling - the condition of the train, the services offered, the different kinds of passengers and other things. Many passengers might have also noticed and wondered what the "X" symbol behind the last coach of the train actually meant. The Railways Ministry took to Twitter to explain the meaning of the same and many users were relieved to finally find an answer.
According to a post by the Ministry of Railways’ official Twitter account, the yellow "X" sign signifies that the train has passed without leaving any coaches behind. The presence of the symbol also helps the railway officials to get a confirmation that the train has passed in its entirety, without any coaches being detached.
Did you Know?
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) March 5, 2023
The letter ‘X’ on the last coach of the train denotes that the train has passed without any coaches being left behind. pic.twitter.com/oVwUqrVfhE
The caption of the post read, "Did you Know? The letter ’X’ on the last coach of the train denotes that the train has passed without any coaches being left behind."
Since being shared, the post has amassed two lakh views and over three thousand likes.
"I always thought it was for swag," commented a person.
"Also LV (Last vehicle). These symbols ’X’ and ’LV’ used to be on my mind from childhood. Thanks for providing the answer," said a user.
"The LV ie Last Vehicle board in the day time and a flickering tail lamp at night mean that the train has arrived fully. It is the duty of the Guard to put up the LV board during day time and the tail lamp at night. This is true for both passenger carrying train or Freight train," said a second person.
A third person commented, "I thought it’s vector representation, when a vector comes towards you it’s denoted by dot (train’s headlight), and if a vector going away from you it is denoted by X."
"And I used to think it meant to denote an Express train. A lot of passenger trains don’t have this symbol at the end... Hence, I deduced the above," commented another person.