Representative image of trains.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Aiming to cater to migrant workers, the Indian Railway plans to operate 2,000 additional trains with non-AC coaches on 25 popular routes in the next two months.
This is mainly to address long waiting lists as well as overcrowding issues in the trains on some busy routes, said an official at the railways.
With a large number of migrant workers, mostly from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Odisha, going to work in Gujarat, Delhi, Punjab, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, these trains will run connecting major cities in these states, said the official.
Though these trains will comprise mostly non-AC sleeper coaches and general coaches, some trains will have a few AC coaches as well, depending on the waiting lists, said the official.
The routes include Danapur (Bihar)-Bangalore, Chennarayanapalli (Andhra Pradesh)-Santragachi (West Bengal), Delhi-Barauni (Bihar), Delhi-Patna, Darbhanga-Delhi, Gaya-Delhi, Gorakhpur (UP)-Dadar, Balia-Dadar and Bandra-Ajmer.
The fare of these trains will be the same as that of other normal express/mail trains. The trains will make round trips and these will be in addition to the summer and festival specials to clear the rush.
Following complaints of overcrowding in some trains, the railways announced to add 92 general-category coaches to 46 long-distance trains for passenger convenience, and 22 other trains have also been identified for the same.