Railways to add 1K coaches, LS told

New Delhi:Union railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday informed Lok Sabha that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is focusing on the improvement of services of the general coach passengers and, as part of the process, 1,000 more general coaches will be added to the railway network by the end of this month.

The minister said railways is also planning to build 10,000 additional general compartment coaches in the coming years.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s focus is to improve the services of the general class coaches. As part of the exercise, 1,000 more general coaches will be added by the railways by the end of December. Our focus is more on general coaches rather than AC second or AC 3rd class coaches,” he said during the Question Hour.

Meanwhile, a Bill that seeks to simplify the legal framework in the Railways Act, 1989, received strong backing from NDA partners, including the TDP, Janata Dal (United), and the LJP (Ram Vilas), in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Moving the Railways (Amendment) Bill 2024 for discussion, Vaishnaw said the efficiency of Indian Railways will improve with the passage of the legislation. The Bill proposes to simplify the legal framework by incorporating the proposals of the Indian Railway Board Act, 1905 in the Railways Act, 1989. This will reduce cross reference to two laws.

The Opposition members, however, stressed that the government should not privatise Indian Railways as it will hurt the interest of poor people and demanded that concession for senior citizens be restored.