Air-conditioned 'Garib Rath' to be flagged-off next month: Lalu

Mumbai, Oct 5 (UNI) Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today announced that air-conditioned 'Garib Rath' trains to Mumbai and Chennai from New Delhi at 38 per cent lower fare will be flagged-off next month.

''The objective is to ensure that the poorest of the poor can travel in the air-conditioned compartments of railways,'' the Minister said.

Mr Lalu, who is being credited for the profits of Rs 13500 crore till March 2006 in the Railways, made the announcement during the foundation stone-laying ceremony of dedicated western freight corridor and launching of additional suburban train services in Mumbai.

''Railways is no profit, no loss organisation. We want people from all sections of the society to travel on Indian railways,'' he said adding the changing fortunes of railways should be credited to the 'rail parivar' of 16 lakh employees rather than an individual.

''When I took over as the Railway Minister, I recall that the Prime Minister advised me to keep development of railways a top priority because it was inter-linked to the development of the country,'' the Minister added.

UNI MR PM HS GC1952