- By Vaamanaa Sethi
- Thu, 20 Jul 2023 12:24 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
The Indian Railways is planning to launch regular non-AC long distance trains connecting major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Surat, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, and parts of Punjab, as per a report by The Times of India.
Railways is likely to take this step to meet the demand for lower income group passengers and migrant workers from regions like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Bengal and Jharkhand.
The railways also plans to launch the low-cost trains before upcoming Lok Sabha elections, according to the TOI report. The selection of the routes have been carefully done after analysing waitlisted ticket data and assessing the origin-destination patterns of high passenger volumes.
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An official was quoted as saying that the railways have considerably expanded their capacity to run more trains and has laid nearly 20,000 km of new tracks in the last nine years.
The selected routes correspond to areas that witness significant migration of the workforce to employment centers. The TOI report further revealed that these same routes were used during the Covid-19 pandemic to run special Shramik Express trains, assisting in the repatriation of migrant workers back to their home states.
Passenger comfort and safety
Sources also added that railways also plans to enhance passenger comfort and safety. As per the new plan, railways will be replacing the remaining 20,000-odd old Integral Coach Factory (ICF) coaches with Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches, which are considered safer.
Within 4-5 years, the railways will also equip all the coaches with "plug doors" that will prevent accidents by ensuring that the trains do not start unless the doors are closed securely. This fail-safe system will automatically open the doors in case of emergencies.
The railway network will reduce the variety of passenger coaches from the current 28 to just two types — LHB and Vande Bharat, to further streamline the operations and manage the maintenance cost.
By adopting this approach, the Indian Railways aims to achieve the same level of success that low-cost airlines have experienced in optimizing their operations, the report said.
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Besides this, railways also plans to offer affordable and hygienic food options to passengers in general coaches with extended services counters positioned near the coaches.
The passengers will be able to access "economy meals'' priced at Rs 20 and "snack meals" at Rs 50. The economy meal will include seven 'pooris' with dry 'aaloo' and pickle, while the "snack meal" will comprise a variety of Indian dishes such as rice, rajma, chhole, khichdi kulche, bhature, pao-bhaji, and masala dosa.