IR to reduce types of passenger coaches

Indian Railways (IR) plans to reduce the types of passenger coaches operating on its network from 28 to two. In the coming six years, only Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) and Vande Bharat type coaches will be operational on IR network. The idea is to help manage maintenance cost of rolling stock operations. IR has earmarked Rs 97.93 billion for Materials for Repairs and Maintenance head in the Budget 2023-24. It is expected that with standardisation, this cost can be reduced by 40 per cent.