The Indian Railways is planning to introduce AC 3 economy class on the long-distance trains and the fare is expected to be at least 8% less than what a passenger pays for an AC Class 3 ticket. A senior officer of the Indian Railway said, “The AC3 economic class is being introduced to provide people travelling in sleeper class benefits of AC coaches.” According to reports, the base fare for up to 300 km will be Rs 440 which is the lowest according to the distance, while the highest base fare is Rs 3,065 for 4,951 to 5,000 km.
The officer added that around 50 coaches of the AC3 economy class have been made by the Kapurthala Rail Coach Factory. “These coaches will be sent to different zones to be attached with various long distance passenger trains,” added the officer.
The Indian Railway plans to build at least 800 AC3 economy class coaches by the end of 2021. Of these 800, 300 coaches will be manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, 285 coaches at the Modern Coach Factory, Raebareli and 177 at Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala.
The AC3 economy class coaches will have at least 15 percent more berths than the AC3 coaches. The current AC3 coaches have 72 berths. The AC3 economy class coach will have a total of 83 berths. The AC3 coaches have two side berths, which will be increased to three in the AC3 economic class coaches.
According to senior officers, the Indian Railways is planning to cut down sleeper class coaches and introduce the same number of AC3 economic class coaches in the long distance passenger trains.
According to inputs, the Indian Railway makes a profit by selling AC3 tickets. Usually the railways make a seven percent profit from the sale of AC3 tickets. The railways suffer 63 percent loss in urban trains, 40% in non sub-urban trains, 24% in AC1, 27% in AC2 and 34% in sleeper class.
The Indian Railway is also planning to change Garib Rath’s current coaches with the AC3 economic class coaches. According to experts, if it is done at least fare hike will be seen in the 26 Garib Rath trains being run across the country. The Garib Rath was introduced by the former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.
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