The Railway Board is planning to run non-air-conditioned, general class trains for low-income groups like migrant workers and laborers across the country as part of its regular timetable, senior officials said on Wednesday. Usually, such special trains are run during festival times or in summer when there is rush due to the holiday season. However, the new trains will be permanent. Officials said the decision was taken after a study identified states where people from low-income groups constituted a major portion of passengers traveling and where tickets were waiting for long periods.
Migrant source states emerged as the states that needed more such trains. The move comes at a time when the issue of overcrowding in passenger trains has been raised by passengers, especially on social media. A senior Railway Board official said that the new trains are likely to run from January 2024. These trains will have non-air-conditioned LHB coaches and will have only sleeper and general class service. Railways has not yet named these new types of trains.
Earlier, during the coronavirus crisis, the Railways had run migrant special trains to return workers to their native places. According to the Railway Board, new special trains are being planned for the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal, Punjab, Assam, Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh.
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Officials said that most of the skilled-unskilled workers, artisans, laborers and others from these states go to metros and big cities for work. “Trains will be run for these people in which only sleeper-general class coaches will be used.
“The migrant special trains will have a minimum of 22 to a maximum of 26 coaches. They will be run permanently throughout the year instead of seasonal,” said an official. These will also be included in the regular timetable, so that passengers will be able to make reservations in advance.
In another development, officials said that to make the Indian Railways future-ready, only two types of coaches will eventually be put into service – LHB coaches and other Vande Bharat coaches. Presently 28 types of coaches are in service. “This will reduce the cost of repairs. And travel will become cheaper,” said an official.