Trains For Low-Income Passengers From Odisha Soon

Bhubaneswar, July 20: The Indian Railways have decided to introduce non-AC trains only for lower-income passengers from Odisha and some other states. These trains will cater mostly to the migrants and run to destinations such as Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi.

Unlike the special trains that are pressed into service for a limited period to clear the extra rush, these trains will be introduced on a permanent basis. The routes have been identified based on a study carried out by the Railways, said an Economic Times report.

Apart from Odisha, these trains will run from states such as Punjab, Assam, eastern Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand.

Special economy meals are also been introduced in stations such as Rourkela and Jharsuguda to meet the demands of the passengers travelling in unreserved coaches. The packed meals will be available at Rs 20 and Rs 50, the counters of which will be opened close to the unreserved coaches, said an East Coast Railway statement.

The latest move comes as the national transporters look at offering advanced and enhanced services to all classes of passengers.  For the unreserved passengers as well, Railways will also run non-AC Vande Bharat trains that will have far better features than the existing non-AC coaches.

As per the Economic Times report, Railways have also decided to bring down the type of passenger rakes from 28 to 2 only in the next five to six years. Henceforth, only LHB and Vande Bharat types of coaches will run on the Indian railway network.

This will help the railways bring down the maintenance cost, the budget of which allocated during the 2023-24 financial year is 9792.88 crores. Railways hope to bring down this cost by 40 per cent by running only the above said, coaches. The LHB and Vande Bharat coaches are the most modern coaches with enhanced safety and other passenger-friendly features.