Railway Budget: Better food, cleaner coaches get a thumbs up from travellers

The aam aadmi has waved a green flag to Suresh Prabhu’s Rail Budget, as the Minister focused on improving the travel experience.

“No hike in railways fares is something I am happy about as I won’t have to shell out more money for my tickets,” said student Varun Chandran, a frequent local train traveller from Navi Mumbai.

To minimise chaos at the booking windows, tickets will be sold through hand-held terminals for suburban and short distance travellers. Soon platform tickets also will be sold through ticket vending machines.

People are also looking forward to experience facilities like Janani Seva and Clean my Coach. The Railways will pilot children’s menu items on trains to help mothers travelling with infants and toddlers. Baby foods, hot milk and hot water would be made available on stations and changing boards for babies would be provided in train toilets under the new facility.

Also, the provision of reservation for women and increased safety measures will encourage more women to travel alone, according to Manaswini Acharya, a professor at IMI Delhi.

“I am looking forward to the improved facilities such as clean toilets, clean linen (in AC coaches), and better food. And the government is seemingly taking steps to improve the experience by planning to introduce SMART coaches,” said Ajit Mishra, a civil engineer who travels frequently on his work.

To enhance the passenger comfort, the Railways plans to deploy SMART (Specially Modified Aesthetic Refreshing Travel) coaches which will ensure higher carrying capacity and provision of amenities like automatic doors, bar-code readers, bio-vacuum toilets, ergonomic seating, and entertainment screens.