The Indian Railways plans to convert general coaches into AC compartments in long-distance trains. By converting the compartments, passengers who cannot afford AC coaches will be able to enjoy a comfortable journey. Although the Railways is yet to make official announcements, a source close to the development told Times of India that the converted general AC coaches will be able to accommodate 100-200 passengers, allowing fares to remain low for the common man.
Seats will be fully reserved in the new AC compartments, and the doors will be automatically closed. The railways are already working on a plan and are conducting brainstorming sessions, reported TOI. There has been no confirmation by the Railways yet, but it is likely that the first General Class AC coaches will be built at Kapurthala’s Railway Coach factory.
Coaches of the Indian Railways are normally unreserved, however, since the Covid-19 pandemic, all such coaches have been converted into reserved compartments. Railways recently introduced AC economy compartments with lower fares than the AC-3 coaches. Passengers can now opt to travel in economy coaches rather than AC-3 coaches.
Additionally, Railways announced its plans to resume regular train services in the pre-Covid-19 area. With this announcement, more than 1700 trains that were suspended due to the pandemic will be running again within a few days. As before, these trains will run with regular fares and categorizations. However, the notification added that the second class of these trains would continue to be reserved.
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Regular railway operations have been hindered by the lockdowns since they began in March 2020. Before they resumed with special trains, the Railways’ operation had completely ceased. At present, 95% of express trains are back on the tracks. 25% of these trains are still operating under the special category.
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