Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw revealed that Indian Railways prioritises affordable travel by expanding its non-AC general and sleeper capacity on a regular basis and providing an average concession of 45% per passenger to keep fares low. Read on to find out more about it.
Railways Prioritises Affordable Travel With Non-AC Coaches
As per a report by Telangana Today, according to the Ministry of Railways, around 70% of train coaches are general and sleeper class. An additional 1,250 general coaches were included back in 2024-25 and around 860 in 2025-26. Not only this, but railways also provide passengers with a subsidy of approximately ₹60,000 crore annually, with an additional ₹3,000 crore subsidy for suburban sections like Mumbai.
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Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also revealed that trains like Amrit Bharat provide efficient, safe, and modern travel for passengers at very low and affordable rates.
Ashwini Vaishnaw On Indian Railways Development
As per the news portal, he also revealed freight loading data and stated that it has increased from around 1,055 million tonnes in 2013-14 to around 1,650 million tonnes, marking Indian Railways as the second-largest freight carrier globally. He also disclosed that Indian Railways has laid 37,000 km of railway track and electrified 27,000 km in the last decade.
Locomotive production has also risen to around 12,000 units, while waggon induction has crossed 2 lakh units. He also discussed the plans and how they are slowly replacing diesel locomotives with electric locomotives. The minister noted that the dedicated freight corridors have also seen rapid progress, with 2,800 km completed and about 480 freight trains operating daily. Ashwini Vaishnaw also discussed the safety infrastructure, which has increased from 4,000 to 14,000 in the number of road over-bridges and under-bridges. Additionally, automatic signalling has expanded from 500 km to 4,000 km since 2014.
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Lastly, he also talked about how safety remains a top priority, with focused interventions in track maintenance, technology adoption, and training practices. He said the rail accidents have been reduced by 90%, and many investments have gone into making train travel safe for commuters.
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