Railway reduces sleeper coaches on major trains in Kerala

Kannur: The Southern Indian Railway has reduced sleeper coaches on major trains running in Kerala. Such coaches will be replaced by 3rd AC coaches.

Railways has made changes to four busy trains in Kerala. The change of coaches on Maveli Express, Chennai Mail, and Westcoast Express trains took effect last week. The sleeper coach was converted into an AC coach on the Mangalore-Thiruvananthapuram Malabar Express starting today (Sep 18). Malabar Express currently has 10 sleeper coaches and 4 AC three-tier coaches. With the new change, 72 seats will be shifted to AC 3-tier coaches.

The similar changes came into effect for Maveli Express on September 11, Mangaluru Mail on September 13, and West Coast on September 14.

The new policy of the railways is to gradually reduce the number of sleeper coaches and general coaches and increase the number of AC coaches in all carriages.

The removal of sleeper coaches on certain routes has been viewed as a move to boost the financial performance of the railway. This decision primarily aims to cater to travellers with modest budgets, as it makes travel at a reasonable price more accessible. While these changes will help generate more revenue for the railways.

John Brittas MP had earlier sent a letter to Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnav demanding that to withdraw the decision to reduce the number of sleeper coaches. He pointed out that the decision will adversely affect lakhs of common train passengers, as there will be a situation when the reservation ticket is not available. The MP pointed out in the letter that Railways is trying to make a profit by taking Tatkal tickets.