Indian Railways has more than 8700 stations and it has always been the endeavour of the Railways to provide adequate amenities to the passengers at the stations. While certain amenities are provided at the time of construction of new stations based on anticipated traffic, amenities are further augmented from time to time with the growth in passenger traffic at stations, based on the needs of travelling public and availability of funds.

Upgradation of stations on Indian Railways is a continuous and on-going process. Works for improvement of passenger amenities are undertaken depending upon need, volume of passenger traffic and inter-se priority, subject to availability of funds. Presently, Railway stations are beautified/modernized under ‘Adarsh’ Station Scheme based on identified need of providing better enhanced passenger amenities at stations. Various passenger amenities which, inter-alia, include improvement to façade of the station building, retiring room, waiting room (with bathing facilities), separate waiting room for ladies, landscaping of circulating area, earmarked parking, signages, Pay & Use toilets, Foot Over Bridge, ramps at entry to station, separate parking for Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), non-slippery walkway, ‘May I help you’ booth, trolley path etc. are proposed to be provided at Railway stations which are identified for development under this scheme as per the respective category of the station and the works for which are funded under Plan Head ‘Passenger Amenities’.

Out of 1253 stations identified under this scheme, 1065 stations so far have been developed under ‘Adarsh Station Scheme.’ and remaining stations are targeted to be developed by 2018-19. Besides this, in a unique attempt to combine cleanliness and creativity, Indian Railways has decided to beautify Railway Stations with wall art of paintings and graffiti or local arts. Beautification has been done through participation of local artists, volunteers and private groups etc. So far, station walls of 62 stations in 11 Zonal Railways have been painted with Mithila art painting depicting old mythology.

Concurrently, improvement of train coaches is a continuous process on Indian Railways. Several steps have been taken by Indian Railways in this regard, such as:

1. Indian Railways has planned to improve the interior of the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) coaches. New interiors with more pleasing colours, aesthetically designed fittings, paneling, improved toilets, etc. are being provided in select existing coaches by refurbishing them during Mid-Life Rehabilitation (MLR).
2. Various premium services like Humsafar, Tejas, Antyodaya, UDAY, Mahamana, Gatimaan and coaches like Deen Dayalu and Anubhuti, which have improved coach interiors / exteriors, have been introduced in service.

• III. Under Project Swarn, 14 Rajdhani and 15 Shatabdi train services have been upgraded across multiple dimensions, which include coach interiors, toilets, onboard cleanliness, staff behavior, linen, etc.
• IV. Upgradation of 640 rakes of Mail / Express trains in divisions has also been taken up from 2018-19 onwards under Project Utkrisht.

5. With a view to providing comfortable journey to passengers, it has been decided to run more trains with technologically superior Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches. Trains operating with conventional ICF coaches are getting replaced by LHB coaches in a phased manner. 308 pairs of trains are being operated with LHB coaches as on November, 2018.

This information was made available in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

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SVS/MKV/AP