Railway ministry has made a big decision concerning trains running at a speed of 130km and above. Now, these trains will only have AC coaches and existing sleeper and general coaches will be replaced by the AC ones. Such trains running on Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi Howrah routes will now be equipped with especially designed AC coaches in place of sleeper coaches.
Meanwhile, the trains running with 110 kmph or less will continue to have non-AC coaches.
Railway Ministry has devised this plan to help passengers reach their respective destinations in lesser time. To achieve this target, the railways is trying to increase the speed of mail trains to 130 to 160 kmph. Going forward, these trains will not have any sleeper or general coach.
As per the Indian Railways, old tracks on many routes across the country are being modernised so that it could run trains with a speed of 130 to 160 kmph. Currently, there are only a few limited trains that clock this speed, however, under the new plan, the railways is determined to run all mail and express trains on long routes with 130-160 kmph.
Keeping the speed factor in mind, the railways is making requisite changes in the design of train coaches.
Railways was of the view that AC coaches are required in these semi-high speed trains to meet the challenges posed by the wind and weather conditions. It believes that technically it becomes pertinent to equip such trains with only AC coaches.
However, the railways has clarified that sleeper and general coaches will not be removed from all trains, but only in those semi-high speed trains that will run with 130 kmph or more.
The coaches with suggested changes by the railway ministry are already being developed in Kapurthala Rail Coach Factory, and in coming few weeks such coaches will be ready for rollout.
In the first phase, these coaches will be used in semi-high speed trains operating on Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes. Based on this experiment, the railways will make required changes in other trains.
As many as 200 such coaches with requisite changes suggested by the Railway Ministry will be made next year.
The Railways has assured that despite these semi-high speed trains not carrying sleeper coaches, there will be a special focus on making the prices of tickets of these trains affordable for those passengers who still prefer to travel in non-AC class.
The railways aims to run semi-high speed trains across the country to ensure that passengers reach their destinations in less time. Keeping this in mind, the railways is planning to modernise old tracks across the country. It is anticipated that prices of the tickets of these coaches will be slightly higher than the fares usually charged for sleeper class.
