Senior government officials announced on Wednesday that the Indian Railways is planning to launch trains for lower-income groups, mostly passengers who work as labourers.
“These are not special but permanent trains that are aimed to help the labour class passengers travel with ease,” a senior government official said. “The service is expected to operate from next year,” the official added.
Officials said the trains with Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches will have both sleeper and general class services. “These trains will be completely non-air conditioned,” the official clarified.
According to a second official, the national transporter performed research to determine the routes that carried people from the lower socioeconomic classes. Additionally, an increase in the number of passengers on the waiting list was observed.
“Based on this exercise, trains in Bihar, Chattisgarh, Guwahati, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Assam were learnt to have the majority of lowest income group travellers who have been finalised to see an increased number of services,” he further stated.
“The Indian Railways has commenced the work on introducing these exclusive services for which they have added around 20,000km of new tracks in the last nine months,” the second official said. However, the national transporter is yet to name them.
