If the project succeeds, train number 2403/2404 would make AC train travel a much more affordable option for a large section of the Indian population. This is the first Garib Rath, the low-cost air-conditioned (AC) train that would ply between Amritsar and Saharsa in Bihar.

The Railway Minister, Mr Lalu Prasad, was originally scheduled to flag off the train from Amritsar.

But now the train, without passengers, would first move to Saharsa and the Minister would flag off the train from his home State.

"This project is an extension of the AC-III tier project for the Railways, which has become a big success," said Mr Pratap Srivastava, General Manager, Rail Coach Factory.

Further lower fares


Just as AC-III tier brought about a wide demand for AC train travel as compared to AC II tier, the Garib Rath model is expected to further bring down the fare by at least 25 per cent against AC-III tier travel.

The Railways witnesses 100 per cent occupancy for AC III tier coaches, which is significantly higher than that enjoyed for AC II tier and AC I coaches.

The Garib Rath would have 18 coaches — 12 with sleeping accommodation, four with sitting accommodation, and two with special facilities for passengers on wheelchairs, guards, generators and the railway cabin crew.

Sleeper coaches would have 75 berths (against 64 berths in AC III tier coaches), whereas there would be 102 seats in chair car coaches (as against 73 chairs in other chair car coaches).

This was possible with design changes such as decreasing the width of berths by 3 mm (against the berth width of AC III tier) and decreasing the space between berths.

The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) Perambur has manufactured the coaches with sitting arrangements and RCF has manufactured the coaches with sleeping arrangements.

Meanwhile, even as the first Garib Rath rolls out, officials at the RCF Kapurthala are busy preparing the second variant of Garib Rath, which envisages having 81 berths per coach.

This would be possible by having 27 longitudinal berths (or three levels of berths along sides of train compared to the current practise of two), said Mr DA Anand, Chief Mechanical Engineer, RCF. This move could potentially bring down the tariffs for passengers by further ten per cent. However, the second design contemplates increasing the coach height and thus, would require safety clearance.