Indian Railways scales up production of profitable AC-3 tier coaches! Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has recently said that the production of Indian Railways’ AC III tier class coaches has been scaled up. The total number of AC III tier coaches in service across Indian Railways’ network as on 31 March, 2019 stands at 7,329. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Goyal has said that the total number of coaches including AC III tier class coaches, in the composition of trains depends, inter-alia, on various factors such as schedule of train, traffic pattern, etc.
The Railway Minister stated that the composition of a large number of trains such as unreserved trains, Antyodaya Express train, Shatabdi Express trains, day time Intercity Express trains does not include AC III tier class.
According to Goyal, in the last five years, the production of Indian Railways’ AC III tier class coaches has been scaled up. We take a look at the number of AC III tier coaches developed by the Production Units of the national transporter:
- In the financial year 2014-15, 488 AC III tier coaches were manufactured
- In the financial year 2015-16, 597 AC III tier coaches were manufactured
- In the financial year 2016-17, 534 AC III tier coaches were manufactured
- In the financial year 2017-18, 589 AC III tier coaches were manufactured
- In the financial year 2018-19, 885 AC III tier coaches were manufactured
In a recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), it was stated that all classes across the Indian Railways network have incurred losses during the financial year 2016-17, except two classes- AC III tier and AC chair car. Both these classes have recovered their operational cost as well as made a profit. As per the report, in 2016-17, AC III tier class saw an increase of 12.43% in profits with an amount of Rs 1,040.52 crore. While the AC chair car class saw an increase of 8.13% in profits with Rs 117.83 crore, during the financial year 2016-17.
