Question : FREQUENCY OF TRAINS

(a) whether Railways proposes to run, weekly, train no. 12569/12570 Garib Rath between Jainagar-Anand Vihar on daily basis, Okha-Rameshwar-Okha via Manmad, Nanded, Sikandarabad and Tirupati on daily basis and Rajkot Express train from Hyderabad-Rajkot on daily basis on account of heavy rush and for passenger convenience;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the time frame for its implementation;

(c) whether Railways have any proposal to regularise the trains services from Tatanagar to Amritsar (Jallianwala Bagh Express 8103/8104) on daily basis and convert the said train to superfast with pantry car services;

(d) if so, the details thereof and its final outcome; and

(e) whether Railways have proposed to optimise the frequency and number of coaches of existing trains in Kashmir and if so, the details thereof and time by which it is likely to be implemented?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) to (d) Owing to operational and resource constraints, at present, increase in the frequencies of 12569/12570 Jaynagar-Anand Vihar (T) Garib Rath (bi-weekly), 16733/16734 Rameswaram-Okha Express (weekly), 17017/17018 Rajkot-Secunderabad Express (Tri- weekly) and 18103/18104 Tatanagar-Amritsar Jallianwala Bagh Express (bi-weekly) to daily and speeding up of 18103/18104 Tatanagar-Amritsar Jallianwala Bagh Express so as to make it a superfast train, is not feasible.

As per norms laid down in the Catering Policy 2010, provision for attachment of pantry cars is based on order of priority with first priority to Duronto and Rajdhani Express trains; followed by long distance premier, superfast trains; Mail & Express trains with more than 24 hours journey time either way; and lastly for the remaining trains, with preference to those trains in which vestibules are provided.

(e) With a view to cater to the needs of passengers of Baramula-Budgam-Banihal sector, 4 pairs DEMU services have been introduced on the Budgam-Banihal section w.e.f 05.07.2014.

These are in addition to the 5 pairs of trains each already available between Budgam and Banihal and Budgam and Baramulla. Furthermore, introduction of Baramula-Banihal DEMU has been announced in Railway Budget 2014-15. Train services announced in Railway Budget are generally introduced during the course of financial year.