'Garib Rath' to continue, says Ministry of Railways

New Delhi: The Ministry of Railways dismissed reports of the discontinuation of Garib Rath, touted to be the poor man's AC train. "It is clarified that there is no proposal to discontinue Garib Rath Services on Indian Railways," the ministry mentioned in an official statement.

Reportedly, the train service initiated by the former rail minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, will either be completely phased out or be converted into mail or express trains. But the ministry claimed, "Owing to a temporary shortage of coaches on Northern Railway, two pairs of weekly trains of Garib Rath services namely, Train No. 12207/08 between Kathgodam and Jammu Tawi and Train No. 12209/10 between Kanpur and Kathgodam were temporarily operated as Express train services by Northern Railway."

Reportedly, the rail ministry asked to stop making of new coaches for the trains. But it is also being clarified that the rail services in both the sectors will be restored from August, 4.

By the Garib Rath rail service, passengers can travel in the AC coaches at a lower fare, cheaper than the normal AC-3 tier fares. Therefore, these are very popular services.

Currently, there are 26 pairs of Garib Rath services operating on Indian Railways.