The Railways is working on an idea that, if implemented, would significantly increase the passenger carrying capacity of a few short-distance trains, but at the same time make the overnight travel more like a bus journey. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has suggested the Railway Board to replace non-AC sleeper coaches of busy trains with reserved chair cars, so that more people could be adjusted in overnight journeys of up to 10 hours. Prabhu has also pressed for more double-decker trains in shorter routes. The Railway Board is currently determining feasibility of the idea. The zonal units have been asked to get back with relevant data so that the Board and the minister could take a formal call. “In summer and during festive seasons, the Railways faces a lot of flak for the crowd and its inability to carry them,” a note from Prabhu said. “For overnight journeys or journeys for less than 10 hours, the Railways may put chair cars instead of sleeper cars,” it said. There is justification for the idea too. “As the energy consumption to produce a rail passenger-km is about twice that needed for freight, because passenger trains travel at higher speeds (energy increases exponentially with increasing speed) and because passenger trains tend to be less heavily loaded.Passenger traffic represents only 28.5 per cent of rail output, but somewhat over 44 per cent of rail energy use. So, we may use chair cars in passenger trains and double-deckers in short distance trains,” said the note. Sources said routes like Delhi-Jammu, Delhi-Lucknow, Delhi-Varanasi or even Delhi-Patna during summer or festive rush would be serviced better if the idea fructifies. Officials, however, said there are multiple glitches in the idea. A reserved chair car (non-AC) has 108 seats as against 80 seats in modern non-AC sleeper coaches. So, a seating-only coach might carry 28 more passengers, but the ticket cost would also come down. For instance, a sleeper class ticket from Delhi to Lucknow fetches the Railways around Rs 285. For the same journey, a reserved seating ticket, known as “2S”, costs Rs 185. Even after carrying more people, the difference in earning from each coach would over Rs 2000. Another problem is the availability of coaches. At present, Railways has around 2,676 non-AC reserved-seating-only coaches. Usually, long distance trains do not have these coaches and to service short distances, almost all these coaches are already in service.
