Railways Minister Piyush Goyal says all long-distance trains to get modern Linke Hofmann Busch coaches

New Delhi: The government will replace conventional coaches with modern Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) design coaches in all long-distance trains, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. He also assured the House that the government will implement “whatever announcements have been made with regard to introduction of more trains.” “A week ago, a review meeting was held in Guwahati, where it was decided that all long-distance trains shall be replaced with LHB modern coaches,” Goyal said, replying to a supplementary query during the Question Hour. [caption id=“attachment_4449521” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A file image of Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. PIB[/caption] “Replacement of trains operating with conventional coaches into LHB coaches is being done in a phased manner,” he added. “At present, 18 pairs of trains, owned by Northeast Frontier Railway, are being operated with modern LHB coaches,” he said in his written reply to the Upper House. Goyal also mentioned that LHB coaches with higher carrying capacity, speed and increased codal life, are being manufactured by the Indian Railways since 2018-19. To another query on complaints that modern coaches already operational are being replaced in trains running from the Northeast, the minister said, “I can assure you that can never be the case.” On unmanned railway crossings, Goyal said that the government has almost eliminated all of them. As a result, the number of accidents has come down to three in the last nine months from 52 in 2014-15. “The government had eliminated 3,451 unmanned railway level crossings by December, 2018. In the next few weeks, the Indian Railways will be free from unmanned railway crossings on broad gauge track,” he added. With regards to compensation, the minister said that wherever the Railways are responsible, compensation has been provided to the families of the deceased. “Trespassers are not given compensation,” he said.