Now you know where to find officers in trains

CHENNAI: In order to pay better attention to rail passengers’ grievances, the railways has decided to earmark dedicated berths for on board security personnel, travelling ticket examiners and train conductors uniformly across the country.

Berth 63 in S1 sleeper coach will be earmarked for GRP or RPF in all superfast and express trains across the country, said a railway board order issued to Southern Railway on Tuesday.
Presently, two to three GRP or RPF constables, including a woman personnel, are deployed in several night trains on shift basis. “Since both GRP and RPF were reeling under staff shortage, they could not inform railway well in advance to get the berths booked for police personnel regularly. During long distance journey police personnel have to depend on TTEs for berths. This caused lot of inconvenience. Now, that wont be the case,” said GRP sources.

Currently, each zone follows its own pattern in providing berths for TTEs in superfast and Shatabdi trains. There are no dedicated berths for train conductors in several trains including Hamsafar, Rajdhani, Garib Rath, Gatimaan, Duronto, Uday, Jan Sadharan Express, AC Express, Double-Decker and Tejas, which were introduced in recent years.

According to the new order, berth 7 will be earmarked for TTEs manning sleeper classes in alternative coaches, while berth 7 in third AC and third AC economy will be for TTEs working for third AC class. Similarly, train conductors deployed for first, second AC classes and first class coaches will be given berth number 5 in AC two tier coach.

For Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains which cover long distances, train superintendents of first AC and second AC coaches will be assigned berth 5.
In the second AC coach, deputy train superintendents in three tier AC coach will get berth 7 at third AC coaches of 1, 3, 5, and 7. A similar pattern is to be followed for Garib Rath trains, added the board order.
Train superintendents of Shatabdi trains such as Chennai-Mysuru and Chennai-Coimbatore – with sitting accommodation – will be on seat number 1 in chair car coaches of 1,3,5 and 7. This seat is adjacent to the economy class.

The TTEs of intercity trains such as Coimbatore Express, Sapthagiri Express, Bengaluru Expresses will have to sit in seat number one of alternative coaches of second sitting class, the order said.
The board also directed that in case, TTEs and GRP or RPF are not deployed in any train, those berths should be allotted to passengers. Respective zones have been directed to give effect to the order in another few months, the order said.

Cheran Express to run with LHB coaches soon

Chennai: Cheran Express, between Chennai Central and Coimbatore, will soon run with Linke Hoffman Busch (LHB) coaches. Salem division received 22 coaches two days ago. It is awaiting four more rakes (22 coaches). The train had the rake sharing arrangement with Navajeevan Express, which ended on November 1. “The coaches have to run for over 3,500 kms before maintenance work at Coimbatore. As a policy decision, railway board decided to operate such long-distance trains with dedicated rakes, “ an official said.