Lalu's 'Garib Rath' ready for pilot run

'Garib Rath', an AC three-tier train targetting the middle and lower income classes, is ready for a pilot run, six months after it was announced by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in his Rail Budget speech.

The train is scheduled to be flagged off on October 4.

"We are not competing with no-frill airlines companies. Our vision is to provide air-conditioned yet affordable service to passengers from middle and lower income classes," said S K Aggarwal, chief design engineer of Rail Coach Factory (RCF) in Kapurthala.

The coaches were equipped to accommodate more passengers as compared to a normal three-tier AC coach, he added.

During the trial run, the train would have 12 AC 3-tier coaches, four chair cars and two power/generator cars. Sleeper coaches, designed by the RCF, have can accommodate 75 passengers compared to normally 64, he said.

The chair cars designed for short-distance passengers by ICF Chennai have seating capacity of 102 instead of normally 75 seats, he added.

The first 'Garib Rath' would run from Saharsa in Bihar to Amritsar. Another three such trains would run from Nizamuddin in Delhi to Patna, Bandra and Chennai.

T P Singh, Chief Workshop Engineer of the RCF, said additional space for more seats was created by reducing the berth width in sleeper coaches.

"We have made provisions for better air circulation and conditioning," he added.

The train has two specially designed separate AC coaches for physically challenged passengers.

"Our aim is to make travel more comfortable for such passengers. The special coaches are user-friendly and designed to meet the needs of such passengers," Singh said.

"We have not compromised with comfort aspect of the passengers," Aggarwal said.

AC compartment fares would be lowered by almost 25 per cent with this train, he said, adding that the maximum speed of the trains would be 130 kmph.

However, the final speed limit would be decided only after the trial runs after taking into consideration factors like condition of tracks and terrain, etc, he added.