People who prefer to travel by general or unreserved class and sleeper class coaches will soon get a non-air-conditioned trainset with modern amenities designed on the lines of Vande Bharat express.
Integral Coach Factory (ICF) will soon design and manufacture a non-AC train with eight unreserved coaches and 12 sleeper class coaches in addition to two locomotives on both ends of the train.
The train will most likely be called Vande Sadharan or Vande Antyodaya.
“The train will be designed on the Vande Bharat platform but will not be air-conditioned. The interiors of the coaches will have a modern look and better amenities,” said a source.
The train will have a dedicated locomotive on both ends so that it can be operated bi-directionally like the Vande Bharat trains.
The locomotive will be made at the Carriage and Wagon Workshop at Perambur while the rest of the train will be made at ICF. The plan is to roll out the first train by the end of the year.
Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, during his recent visit to ICF, said that the railways was planning to create a new and modern train for travel needs of the people in the lower strata of the society.
The train is likely to be classified as a regional metro and will be used to connect small cities and will not be run on the mainline.
The move comes as the railways is going to introduce semi-high-speed AC trains and AC MEMU (Vande Metro) designed on the Vande Bharat platform on many routes. As the trains are air-conditioned, the fare will also be high.
With the advent of Vande Bharat trains and the move to upgrade tracks to enhance speed to 130kmph and above, trains have to be air-conditioned for speed and for riding comfort.
Railways has also started to add air-conditioned coaches to regular express trains as speed is being increased on many routes. However, the new non-AC trains for general class and sleeper class will have to be operated at slower speed because a non-AC train running at 130kmph will be noisy and dusty for the passengers.
“Though planned to offer an economical travel option, the Vande Sadharan trains may cause operational constraints on the routes,” said a railway official.