Very soon, every coach in every train of India Railways will be fully AC. Be it sleeper class, general class or sitting coaches or 2S.
This can be abig leap in the design and structure of Railways, and surprisingly, it’s not that expensive to implement as well.
Know more about this breakthrough right here!
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Indian Railways Upgrading Non-AC Coaches To AC
At the Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala, Indian Railways has started converting all non-AC coaches to AC coaches.
This means that all the trains with these new coaches will run 100% AC trains.
This includes Sleeper Class coaches, and General Coaches as well, which have traditionally been non-AC.
How Will This Work Out?
As per officials from the Coach Factory, AC Sleeper Class coaches will be a sort of ‘economial’ AC class, which can be categories between AC 3 and Sleeper class.
For their internal communication, such upgraded Sleepeand General Class coaches are being called as AC 3-tier Tourist Class.
An official said, “It is like an affordable AC 3-tier Class,”
Will This Be Expensive Affair?
To convert a non-AC coach to AC coach, Railways is only spending 10% more.
In the first batch, around 230 non-AC coaches are being converted into AC coaches, at an expense of Rs 2.8-3 crore per coach.
How Will It Benefit?
This exercise to convert non-AC coaches to AC coaches will benefit both the passengers, and Indian Railways.
With the AC setup, sleeper coaches can have 83 berths, compared to 72 berths in the normal non-AC condition.
For General Coaches, there will 100 seats.
Wiht increased number of berths and coaches, and increased demand for such service, Railways is expecting to make a good profit.
At the same time, travel experience for the passengers will improve, hence it’s a win-win situation.
Will There Be Inconvenience?
Last time, under UPA Govt (2004-09), Railways had created a new Economical Class AC coaches, which had less fare, but an added berth between side-upper and side-lower berths.
After several complaints were received, Railways discontinued such coaches, since passengers experienced discomfort.
However, in this case of upgrading sleeper and general coach to AC coaches, space is being arranged by moving the electric units, and the space for storing bedsheets and blankets.
Hence, there will be no issue of space and discomfort.
Talks are on to replace all non-AC coaches to AC coaches, and high-level meetings are already taking place.
An official said, “Whether these (non-AC) will be phased out eventually is a call yet to be taken,”
We will keep you updated, as more details come in.
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