Indian Railways has launched 09 ‘Sewa Service’ Trains to connect smaller towns around major cities. These services were launched by the Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal along with Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan, from New Delhi by inaugurating Delhi-Shamli passenger train. Other trains were flagged off through video-conferencing connected to the terminal stations where these trains are to start. Minister of State of Railways, Suresh C. Angadi, MP, Lok Sabha, MeenakshiLekhi and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion. These nine trains are:
Vadnagar – Mahesana DEMU (6 days a week) – Gujarat
Asarva –Himmatnagar DEMU (6 days a week)- Gujarat
Karur – Salem DEMU (6 days a week)- Tamil Nadu
Coimbatore – Pollachi Passenger (6 days a week)- Tamil Nadu
Coimbatore – Palani Passenger (Daily)- Tamil Nadu
Yesvantpur – Tumkur DEMU (6 days a week) – Karnataka
Murkongselek – Dibrugarh Passenger (Daily) – Assam
Bhubaneswar – Nayagarh Express (Daily) – Assam
Delhi – Shamli Passenger (Daily)
Of 09 ‘Sewa Service’ trains in eight states, four trains will run on a daily basis and other five, 6 days a week.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, PiyushGoyal said, these trains will provide connectivity to the far-flung areas where stoppages of premiere trains was not possible. These trains will act as link trains to serve the common man of the country. The Minister recalled the connect of Mahatma Gandhi to the Railways. Remembering Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, on the occasion of his birth anniversary today, Goyal said that the former President during his childhood in Rameswaram had memorable experience with Indian Railways.
Goyal pointed out that it is a unique concept to start these 09 Sewa trains with layover/ spare rakes as a part of ‘sweating of assets’ initiative by the Indian Railways. This was part of strategies of Indian Railways to have better utilization of the rolling stock without any requisition for new rolling stock. He further added that Railways has taken transformational steps like Cleanliness campaign in Railway premises across the country, Wi-Fi facility at 5000 Railway stations, Installation of Bio toilets in coaches to clean the tracks, Ayushmann Bharat facility in Railway hospitals across the country.
These trains will run on the “Hub and Spoke” Model, thereby facilitating passengers to use these trains to reach the “Hub” for availing onward journey to other major stations. Indian Railways plans to run more trains on similar model to serve the passengers of smaller towns and cities. These measures are also expected to boost the earnings of the Indian Railways to help in strengthening the economy.