Indian Railways Becomes More Passenger Friendly: All AC Coaches To Be Refurbished Every Six Years

Amid mounting criticism over the quality of coaches, the Indian Railways has announced new measures to address passenger complaints by promising to refurbish all air-conditioned (AC) coaches every six years, The New Indian Express has reported.

It has long been noticed that premier trains of the Indian Railways, whose fares are dynamically priced to respond to market demand, are running with AC coaches which have been around for more than a decade. Information from official sources has revealed that Southern Railway has more than 400 AC coaches which are more than a decade old out of the total of 1090 AC coaches that they maintain.

Towards controlling the costs for this exercise, the Railways have further proposed to cap the budget for refurbishments at Rs 10 lakhs per coach.

It has been further reported that in a bid to demonstrate their seriousness in rectifying coach conditions, the Southern Railways have begun upgrading coaches more than 6 years old and have also identified old coaches in high demand trains for upgradation.

It is expected that this measure by the Railways would go a long way in the vision to provide passengers with the best amenities and also increase ridership.