According to the Railway Ministry, currently 26 Garib Rath trains are being operated, which are covering about 52 routes. Some of these run weekly, some run two, three and four times a week.
Railway Rules: This is very useful news for those who travel by Garib Rath train. Otherwise, you may have to face trouble while booking reservation. From next month, do not be surprised if passengers do not get the option of AC Chair Car and Second AC while booking reservations for traveling in these trains. Indian Railways is going to make changes in the coaches of Garib Rath.
According to the Railway Ministry, currently 26 Garib Rath trains are being operated, which are covering about 52 routes. Some of these run weekly, some run two, three and four times a week. The fare of these trains is less than that of third AC and chair car of normal trains. The fare of the coaches of Garib Rath is likely to be kept about 8 to 10 percent less than the fare of Economy AC Third.
These trains were started during the tenure of former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. It has been decided to replace their old coaches with LHB coaches, which will be replaced with newly designed economy AC coaches. AC economy coaches are being produced at Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala, Integral Coach Factory in Chennai, Modern Coach Factory in Raebareli.
According to the Railway Ministry, the coaches of Garib Rath are about 18 years old. They were started in 2006. Since then, a lot of changes have been made in the coaches in view of the facilities of the passengers, but the passengers traveling in these trains are not getting the facilities. Due to this, a decision has been taken to upgrade them.
According to the Railway Ministry, the old coaches include second AC, third AC and chair car. The new Garib Rath will only have third AC coaches. That is, there will be no second AC and chair car. Since the booking starts 120 days in advance, it is likely that from next month, the booking of second AC and chair car will be stopped in Garib Rath. Since this change will require a large number of coaches, the options of Second AC and Chair Car will be gradually discontinued.
AC Economy will have 81 seats, whereas the old coaches had 72 berths. Fire proof material will be used in the berths. Apart from this, there will be handles for hanging bottles, foldable snack table, modern toilets and reading lights as well as USB charging points in all the berths.