Indian Railways set to launch 2,000 more trains on popular routes to address waiting lists
Indian Railways will launch 2,000 more trains on popular migrant routes to eliminate long waiting lists. The trains will cater to cities in Bihar, UP, Rajasthan, and West Bengal, connecting to Delhi, Mumbai, and other states. These trains will have a mix of general and sleeper coaches, with a few AC coaches included.
The Indian Railways has identified 25 routes which are more popular among migrant workers to run around 2,000 additional regular trains around the year in an attempt to address the problem of long waiting lists for passengers travelling in non-AC coaches. The regular services of these trains would start in the next two months, officials said.
The trains will run from cities of Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal to Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat where employment opportunities are more.
“These trains will have more general coaches and non-AC sleeper bogies, though there will be few AC coaches as well. The routes have been identified after studying the travel pattern and waiting list of tickets, which is very high,” said a railway official.
The trains will make round trips and these will be in addition to the summer and festival specials to clear the rush. The fare in these trains will be the same as that of other normal express trains on the respective routes.
The routes include Delhi-Barauni (Bihar), Delhi-Patna, Darbhanga-Delhi, Gaya-Delhi, Danapur (Bihar)-Bangalore, Gorakhpur (UP)-Dadar, Balia-Dadar, Bandra-Ajmer and Chennarayanapalli (Andhra Pradesh)-Santragachi (West Bengal). The number of such routes would be increased based on the traffic demand and capacity of tracks, sources said.
Lately, the govt has taken a few more initiatives to cater to the demands of passengers travelling in non-AC coaches. Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently announced the decision to add 10,000 non-AC coaches in the next two years.
In addition, the national transporter has attached around 100 general unreserved coaches with seating facilities in 46 regular long distance trains. Another 22 trains have been identified for attaching such coaches so that people can travel comfortably.
