Coach shortfall: 30 trains yet to be flagged off

Even as the 2012-13 Railway Budget is round the corner, the Railways is falling short of about 300 coaches to introduce 30 new trains promised in the last budget, including double decker AC trains between Delhi and Jaipur.

Railways had announced introduction of 99 new trains, including express and passenger services in the last budget, but till date 31 trains, including seven Duronto trains, two double decker AC trains and one Shatabdi Express have not been made operational, a data prepared by the ministry said.

Two AC double decker trains connecting Delhi with Jaipur and Mumbai with Ahmedabad were announced in the last budget.

Jaipur-Agra Shatabdi, which is yet to be introduced, is considered to be crucial for promotion of tourism in the Delhi-Agra-Jaipur golden triangle sector.

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"All the trains proposed in the Rail Budget are to be introduced in the current financial year. The new fiscal will begin from April and before that we will introduce all the remaining trains," a senior Ministry official said.

About shortage of coaches, he said procurement of new coaches is a continuous process and railways is hopeful to meet the demand in the current fiscal.

"Though we procure about 500 new coaches in a year from our coach factories, 20 per cent of the existing coaches are being condemned every year. Still we are hopeful of meeting the target," he said.

Meanwhile, many rail divisions, including Delhi, have raised safety concern against introduction of new trains in their respective zones.

"Introduction of more trains in Delhi division will create serious maintenance problem since our existing infrastructure cannot take any further load," a senior official of the Delhi division said.