The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has decided to amend Rule-93 relating to dimensions of motor vehicles under the Central Motor Vehicle Rules 1989. These amendments would provide for standardisation in the dimensions of the vehicles which would be in line with international standards. These enhanced dimensions would provide for extra passengers or extra carrying capacity within the prescribed weight of respective categories of vehicles. The government says these steps have been taken to improve the logistics efficiency in the country.
M category of vehicles that carry passengers can now be 4 meters high except Airport buses
L2 category which includes 3-wheelers that cannot go beyond 50 kmph from now on cannot be more than 4 meters long and 2.5 metres high. For Auto-rickshaws which fall under the L5 category height has been increased from 2.2 to 2.5 metres. For M category, vehicles that have at least 4 wheels and carry passengers, the maximum height has been amended from 3.8 metres to 4 metres except in the case of airport passenger buses which is retained at 3.8 metres. For buses with two axles, the allowed length is increased from 12 metres to 13.5 metres.
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The height of light commercial vehicles cannot be more than 3 metres
The dimensions of the N category vehicles which carry goods has also been amended to encourage containerized transport. Here the height has been amended from 3.8 metres to 4 metres but only where vehicle gross weight is more than 3.5 tons. For lighter goods vehicles like pick-ups, the height cannot be more than 3 metres. The length of the trailers (T category) is amended from 18 metres to 18.75 metres while their height has been increased from 3.8 metres to 4.0 metres with certain exceptions. For example, trailers that carry motor vehicles can be 4.75 metres tall.
