Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhu inspected the newly turned rake of Antyodaya Express consisting 22 Coaches, today i.e. 22 Feb 2017. Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A. K. Mital, Member (Traffic) Shri Mohd Jamshed, Member (Rolling Stock) Shri Ravindra Gupta, Member Traction Shri AK Kapoor, other Railway Board Members and GM Northern Railway Shri R K Kulshreshta,senior officials were also present on the occasion. The Minister appreciated the new Antyodaya Rake and dedicated it to the common people of the nation.
In the efforts to continually improve the standard of passenger services and amenities in trains and to create a strong brand, Shri Suresh Prabhu had announced in the Rail Budget Speech of 2016-17 that ‘This government truly believes that the fate of India would not change unless the lives of the common man or woman improve. Not only is he or she the center point of our policy making, but is ubiquitous in our public discourse and in our ideology. We propose to introduce the Antyodaya Express, a long-distance, fully unreserved, superfast train service, for the common man to be operated on dense routes.’
These coaches are fully unreserved LHB second class coaches with the following additional amenities:
● Cushioned luggage racks which can serve as seats
● Additional hand holds in doorway area
● J-Hook near longitudinal luggage racks
● Multiple Unit cables at both ends of the coach
● Vestibuled ends for internal movement of the passengers
● Potable Drinking water dispenser
● Mobile charging points
● Fire Extinguisher with anti-theft lock
● FRP (Fibre Reinforced Plastic) Modular Toilets
● Pleasing interior colour scheme
● Toilet Occupation indication display board
● LED Lights
● SS Slip-free flooring at Doorway & Gangway
● Anti-Graffiti coating for exterior painting
Ministry of Railways has identified following Antyodaya Express which will be launched in Phases:
(i) 15567/15568 Darbhanga-Jalandhar City Antyodaya Express (Weekly)
(ii) 22885/22886 Lokmanya Tilak(T)-Tatanagar Antyodaya Express (Bi-weekly)
(iii) 22841/22842 Santragachi-Chennai Central Antyodaya Express (Weekly)
(iv) 22895/22896 Bilaspur-Firozpur Antyodaya Express (Weekly)
(v) 22921/22922 Bandra(T)-Gorakhpur Antyodaya Express (Weekly)
(vi) 22877/22878 Howrah-Ernakulam Antyodaya Express (Weekly)
(vii) 15563/15564 Jaynagar-Udhna Antyodaya Express (Weekly)
The introduction of Antyodaya Express trains would be a major step in the endeavour of Indian Railways to provide better amenities and convenience to the travelling public at affordable prices, and would emerge as a strong brand of IR.