How many of you know that, Indian Railways is upgrading the existing Railway Network in India to reach its High Speed potential. For the same, tracks on Diamond Quadrilateral are being upgraded to run trains at speed in between 130 to 160 kmph. Those of you who don’t know, the Diamond Quadrilateral is an Indian Railway Project to establish a high speed Rail Network in India. The Diamond Quadrilateral connects four mega cities in India, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. Presently, Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah sections of the Diamond Quadrilateral Project are being prepared.
Indian Railway to Upgrade Non-AC Sleeper Coaches into AC Ones in Diamond Quadrilateral
Now, In the same Diamond Quadrilateral project, Indian Railways is upgrading the NON-AC Sleeper Coaches to AC ones in High Speed Trains. From High Speed Trains, I mean trains that are capable of running at a speed of 130 kmph or more. One of the Indian Railway spokesperson said, Wind and Weather are the factors why we are buidling these new coaches. We know that AC Coaches are packed with glasses and all, hence it is suitable for Trains running at High Speed.
In Diamond Quadrilateral, currently, Premium Trains like Rajdhani, Shatabdi, and Duronto operate at 120 kmph, hence they are most suitable to fit the new AC Coaches. These new AC Coaches will have 83 berths in total while the existing sleeper coaches have 72 berths only. These 83 birth AC Coaches are currently being constructed in Indian Railways Kapurthala Rail Coach Factory. Indian Railways has planned to build 100 such coaches this year and 200 next year.
These new AC coaches are similar to the AC-3 Chair Coaches in Humsafar Trains. Talking about the ticket price of these modified AC Coaches for the passengers, it will be slightly higher compared to the Sleeper coaches but one should take into account that the new coaches will drastically reduce the travel time.
Now, although Indian Railways is upgrading the NON-AC Sleeper Coaches to AC ones in High Speed Trains, the same will not be done in trains running at the speed of 110 kmph in the Diamond Quadrilateral.