Indian Railways: all trains will now have 22 coaches

Indian Railways is coming up with revolutionary changes each day with the beginning of the New Year. This time Railway minister Piyush Goyal has come up with a new plan as per which the number of coaches will increase. In no time, almost every train will comprise 22 coaches, which will enable them to run on any route, irrespective of the time taken by each to complete the journey.
Informing more on the same, Mr. Goyal said, "All trains will have 22 coaches, the length of the platforms will be increased, and other related changes will be carried out. The engineering department is looking into it."

As of now, there are two types of coaches, namely ICF and LHB, while the number of coaches in one train is 12, 16, 18, 22 or 26. It all depends on the demand, such as festivities, and number of passengers, among others.

A senior railway official said, “If the number of coaches is same in every train, we can press any train, which is ready, has arrived at the station and undergone maintenance -- into operation, instead of waiting for the same train to get ready."

The Indian Railways has already chosen around 300 groups of trains for the first phase, and their routes are also decided. The changes about the number of trains running on one particular route, and the timings of the same will come in effect from July 2018.

The railway official also informed the media that in order to make this plan successful, the Indian Railways would also have to standardise its infrastructure, such as length of the platforms and washing lines, to name a few.

If the number of coaches gets standardised, it will help the railways to run more trains.