Chennai: A senior Railway official said that trains running on identified routes at a speed of 130 kmph or above on the railway network will have only air conditioned coaches in the near future as part of the Railways’ plans to upgrade the network.
Railway Ministry spokesperson D J Narain however said that it should not be misconstrued that all non-AC coaches will be made into AC coaches.
He also said that the ticket prices of such trains will be affordable. Currently on most routes, speeds of mail/express trains have a ceiling of 110 kmph or lower.
Premium trains like Rajdhanis, Shatabdis and Durontos are allowed to operate at 120 kmph on significant parts of the Golden Quadrilateral and Diagonals.
Narain said AC coaches have become a technical necessity wherever the speed of the train is going to be above 130 kmph. Indian Railways is working on a massive plan to upgrade the railway network to high speed potential.
Tracks on the Golden Quadrilateral and Diagonals are being upgraded to cater to speeds of 130 kmph to 160 kmph. The non-AC sleeper coaches would be replaced by AC coaches only for such trains which will be running at 130/160 kmph. Non-AC coaches will continue to run in trains running at 110 kmph, he added.