The Railways took this decision after noting that the demand for three-tier AC coaches has consistently increased over the last few years.
In a bid to handle the growing demand for air-conditioned rail travel, the Railways will soon increase coaches in AC three-tier class long-distance trains. Some of these trains may have more air conditioned coaches in another three-four months, sources said.
The Railways took this decision after noting that the demand for three-tier AC coaches has consistently increased over the last few years. Till March this year, the Railways earned 33.65 per cent of its passenger earnings from journeys made in three-tier AC coaches. According to the Railways' data, the passenger share in 3AC rose from 16.69 per cent last year to 17.15 per cent this year and subsequently Railways' earnings increased from 32.60 per cent last year to 33.65 per cent between April 1, 2016 and March 10, 2017.
Senior railway officials said there has also been a downward trend in journeys made in the sleeper class, whose share in passenger earnings has always been the most dominating. Sleeper class carried 59.78 per cent of total train passengers and contributed about 44.78 per cent of passenger earnings. Last year the share of sleeper coaches was over 60 per cent of passengers and 45.94 per cent of earnings. A senior official said that Railways is expecting passenger rush to further increase for three-tier coaches in the next two-three months because of the summer heat in most parts of India.
"Every year, during summer, more and more people opt for air-condition coaches and mostly three-tier coaches as an economical option. But for some years now, we have been noticing an increased demand for three-tier coaches even during other months. Keeping this in mind, a decision has been taken to augment 3AC coaches gradually in some long-distance trains," the official said.
Pertinently, the Railways recently launched the Hamsafar Express trains which just have three-tier AC coaches. According to sources in the Railways, the response to Hamsafar trains was positive. Presently, four Hamsafar trains are functional and the government is planning to launch 20 such trains.
Hamsafar trains are specially designed air-conditioned trains with bio-toilets, special dustbins, an optional facility of meals-on-the-wheel, adequate charging points and is disabled-friendly with Braille displays. But because the manufacturing cost of the coaches, the fare of Hamsafar trains are slightly higher than air-conditioned coaches of regular trains. It is in this context that Railways decided to increase coaches of long-distance trains because it wants air-conditioned rail travel to be affordable to most people in the country, a senior railway official said.
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