A total of 6,511 new general coaches have been added to the Indian Railways fleet over the past five years.
This was stated by Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on July 26.
Amrit Bharat services, which have modern State-of-the-art technology, are equipped with advanced features like Semi-Permanent couplers for jerk-free travel, horizontal sliding windows, foldable snack tables and bottle holders, mobile holders etc., have been introduced by Indian Railways (IR).
At present, four Amrit Bharat Express services viz. 15557/58 Darbhanga–Anand Vihar(T) Express and 13433/13434 Malda Town - SMVT Bengaluru Express, are being operated over the Indian Railways network. Besides, introduction of train services, including Amrit Bharat services, is an on-going process on IR subject to traffic justification, operational feasibility, availability of resources etc.
The extant policy regarding composition of Mail/Express trains, provide for 12 (Twelve) General class & Sleeper class non- AC coaches and 08 (eight) AC-Coaches, in a train of 22 coaches, thereby providing for greater accommodation for the passengers using General and non-AC Sleeper Coaches.
An average Annual Budget of Rs 68,634 crore has been allocated for New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling Projects across Indian Railways in 2024-25.
An expansion of 31,180 km achieved by Indian Railways has been achieved from 2014 to 2024, with an average commissioning rate of 8.54 km per day for new lines, gauge conversions, and doubling sections.
Presently, 651 no. of surveys (New line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling) having a total length of 49,983 km have been taken up on Indian Railways under PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP) for the development of multimodal connectivity infrastructure to various Economic Zones to have integrated planning, enhanced logistics efficiency and remove gaps for seamless movement of people, goods and services including connectivity to industrial clusters, ports, mines, power plants, tourist and cultural places, agricultural zones etc.
As on 01.04.2024, across Indian Railways, 488 Railway Infrastructure projects (187 New Line, 40 Gauge Conversion and 261 Doubling) of total length 44,488 Km, costing approx. ₹7.44 lakh crore are in planning/approval/construction stage, out of which, 12,045 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of approx. ₹2.92 lakh crore has been incurred up to March, 2024.
The Centre has also taken initiatives for improvement of working conditions of loco running crew. Loco Pilots are classified under Continuous Category. Section 132 (2) of Railway Act,1989, prescribes duty hours of 54 hrs on an average in a two-weekly period of fourteen days for staff working under Continuous category. Loco Pilots are also compensated for extra working hours as per the rates specified in Section 132 of the Railway Act, 1989.
