Criteria for Provision of Halt/Stoppage Station of Trains

The extant policy guidelines for provision of stoppage of trains at station inter-alia stipulates that the minimum number of tickets to be sold at the station so as to recover the cost of stoppage (which ranges from Rs. 4376/- to Rs. 5396/- depending upon traction, composition and other factors) should be 40 or more per day per train for sleeper class for a distance of 500 Kms. or its equivalent in terms of cost for mixed class of passengers like AC, General and distance (multiple of 100 Kms.) toward/from destination/originating stations of the train. The policy also provides for additional criteria like population, significance, new developments taking place in and around the station, nature & occupancy of the train whose stoppage has been demanded, operational constraints and effect of the stoppage on the line capacity of the section and punctuality of trains, passing time of the train at station in question and availability of alternative service(s) and occupancy thereof etc. Halt stations are opened on public demand if found financially viable and feasible from operating and engineering points of view. Opening of halt stations is also considered on passenger amenity grounds.

Requests for provision of stoppage of trains at various stations and opening of halt stations are received at various levels of Railway administration. These are examined and action as found feasible and justified, is taken within the purview of the extant policy guidelines. Experimental stoppages for specifies period are, however, provided to assess the need for the stoppage and its impact on train operation.

Review of experimental stoppages is and on-going process on Indian Railways and it has been decided to extend all experimental stoppages provided on Indian Railways, upto 30 September, 2014.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.