(a) the names of the trains passing through Jharkhand that remain excessively crowded;
(b) the steps taken by the Government to ensure a comfortable journey for the passengers who travel by these trains; and
(c) the facilities extended to the passengers so far as a result thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)
(a): State-wise statistics is not maintained on Indian Railways. However, the demand pattern on Indian Railways is not uniform throughout the year and it varies during the peak and lean seasons. The demand for travel surges especially during the peak season like during summer holidays, festivals etc. The overall occupancy of all reserved trains on Indian Railways during the Financial Year 2016-17 was more than 100%.
(b) & (c): To cater to the rising demand of passengers including Jharkhand, new train services have been introduced including increase in frequency and extensions of existing services. Trains have also been augmented with additional coaches. To meet the seasonal surge in demand during holiday and festival seasons special trains are also run along with temporary augmentation of coaches to the existing services. This is an on-going process over the Indian Railways.
Further, ensuring a comfortable journey for the passengers is a continual endeavour of the Government and some of the recent steps taken in this regard are given below:
i. Announcement of Tejas, Humsafar and Antyodaya trains and induction of Deen Dayalu coaches that have better standards of passenger amenities for different classes of travel.
ii. Upgradation of passenger amenities provided in the other trains also. Some of the policy decisions taken in the recent past in this regard are given below:
a) Provision of bottle holder and snack table in non-air conditioned Sleeper Class coaches.
b) Provision of dustbins in Non-AC coaches.
c) Provision of Braille signages in coaches.
d) Provision of mugs with chain in Non-AC coaches.
iii. Proliferation of Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches in the Mainline trains running on Indian Railways. These coaches have better passenger amenities and are of superior design as compared to conventional Integral Coach Factory (ICF) type coaches.
iv. Provision of Balanced Draft Gear for reducing the jerks in Centre Buffer Couplers (CBC) fitted coaches.
The above works are carried out in a phased manner based on the availability of capacity and funds.
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