6 days ago
Fewer sleepers, more AC rakes in popular Tamil Nadu trains
CHENNAI: Southern Railway has decided to reduce the number of sleeper (SL) coaches in popular express trains such as Cheran Super Fast (SF) (Chennai to Coimbatore), Chennai Thiruvananthapuram Mail, Nilgiri SF (Chennai-Mettupalayam), Nellai SF (Chennai-Tirunelveli), Pothigai SF (Chennai-Sengottai) and Chennai-Mangaluru SF that operate daily with high patronage and instead replace them with three tier (3AC) or two tier (2AC) AC coaches.
While the total number of coaches in all categories will remain 22 in each of these trains, seven to nine sleeper coaches will be reduced to six to seven sleeper coaches, in order to replace them with either two 3AC coaches or one 3AC and one 2AC coach. This would mean that 80 to 160 sleeper berths, which have an affordable fare in each of these trains, will be replaced with costlier 3AC or 2AC berths. (Refer table)
The move, which is expected to be implemented from first week of August, comes a few years after a similar reduction in other popular express trains such as Pandiyan, Rockfort, and Cholan Express.
In the Cheran and Chennai - Mangaluru SF trains, sleeper coaches will be reduced from nine to seven.
