GUWAHATI, Dec 2 ? The passenger carrying capacity of the popular trains going out of the North Eastern region will be increased in a phased manner and the Railway Board has already taken a decision to increase the number of coaches in four trains originating from Guwahati.
Railway sources said that Indian Railways already started the process of running longer trains in other sections and running of 24-coach trains has become a common feature. But so far the trains running from the North East were not included in the scheme and only recently, the Railway Board has taken a decision to introduce 24-coach trains in this section.
Sources said that in the first phase, the Brahmaputra Mail, North East Express, Lohit Express and Amarnath Express would become 24 coach trains with the addition of extra coaches and there is possibility of expanding the carrying capacity of other popular trains on phased manner depending on the demand.
But to run 24 coach trains, the NF Railway would have to improve its infrastructure like increasing of the length of the platforms and loop length of the lines, improvement of the signalling system etc. The NF Railway also would have to increase the length of the examination pits to handle 24 coach trains.
Railway sources admitted that at present, only one of the seven platforms in the Guwahati Railway station has the capacity to handle a 24 coach train, that too in the down direction and the scheme of expanding the platforms to handle a 24 coach train is likely to be completed sometime next year.
There are four train examination pits in Guwahati, of which three are near the station and one is in New Guwahati area. Of these pits, only the new one in New Guwahati has the capacity to handle a 24-coach train and it would be difficult to increase the length of the pits located near the station because of paucity of space to do so.
Sources pointed out that with the addition of coaches in the trains, the carrying capacity would be increased considerably and reduce the pressure on trains to a great extent. One sleeper coach can carry 72 passengers and addition of two or three coaches would increase the capacity of the trains considerably, much to the benefit of the travelling public.
Giving an account of the present capacity of the popular trains, Railway sources said that the Randhani Express from Guwahati to New Delhi runs with 13 coaches and on three days a week, five coaches from Dibrugarh are added to the train. Sources revealed that the Abadh Assam Express sometimes runs up to 22 coaches, while, the NE Express runs with20 to 22 coaches.
The Brahmaputra Mail runs with 20 coaches from Guwahati and two coaches are added to the train from New Jalpaiguri, while, the Lohit and Amarnath Expresses run with 18 coaches on an average. The Kanchanjangha Express runs with 14 coaches and the Kamrup Express runs with 18.
Railway sources also revealed that among the trains originating from Assam, the Rajdhani Express, Brahmaputra Mail, NE Express, Abadh Assam Express, Kamrup Express and all trains bound for Southern India are considered to be the most popular trains with long waiting lists for tickets.