2,376 railway stations lack passenger amenities: Govt

As many as 2,376 railway stations lack minimum essential amenities for passengers, the government said on Wednesday.

As many as 2,376 out of 8,472 railway stations have shortfall in amenities, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha told Lok Sabha, adding that improving facilities for passengers at railway stations is an ongoing process.

The government has increased the budgetary allocation for providing facilities to passengers, he said during Question Hour.

"Minimum essential amenities are provided at stations on Indian Railways as per norms.

“However, shortfall in amenities occur due to upward revision in scale of amenities at various categories of stations," Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said in a written reply.

Railway stations are classified into seven categories based on annual earnings from passenger traffic at the stations and amenities are provided as per norms based on the categorisation of the station.

The current categorisation is based on the earnings of 2011-12 and the exercise is carried out every five years.

Prabhu said shortfall in amenities mainly exist at category D stations (11 per cent), category E (59.1 per cent), F (14.2 per cent) categories of stations, which account for about 84 per cent of total stations having shortfall in amenities, Prabhu said.

The ministry has issued guidelines for provision of passenger amenities at stations through utilisation of funds under Corporate Social Responsibility and Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme to supplement efforts to improve the amenities.

Image: Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai. Photograph: Manjulkumar/Wikimedia Commons