The Garib Rath
(lit. Poor Chariot) trains are a series of
no-frills
A no-frills or no frills service or product is one for which the non-essential features have been removed to keep the price low. The term " frills" originally refers to a style of fabric decoration. Something offered to customers for no additional ...
trains operated by
Indian Railways
Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...
to provide air-conditioned train travel at a cheaper rate compared to regular trains.
Garib Rath Express trains primarily operate on long-distance routes, connecting major cities and important railway stations across different states in India. These trains are designed to cover extensive distances, often traversing several hundred kilometers in a single journey.
History
The term "Garib Rath" translates to "Poor Man's Chariot" or "Chariot of the Poor" in English. These trains were primarily aimed at providing affordable transportation for economically weaker sections of society. The name "Garib" means Poor and "rath" means chariot in Sanskrit and the first service was inaugurated on 5 October 2006 by introduced by the then Rail Minister of India
Lalu Prasad Yadav
Lalu Prasad (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician who served as the chief minister of Bihar from 1990 to 1997 with a brief interruption in 1995 and as the union minister for Railways from 2004 to 2009. He is the founder and president o ...
between
Saharsa–Amritsar Garib Rath Express
Rolling stock
Garib rath trains have fully air-conditioned coaches that have to be reserved in advance. The originally used ICF rakes, which have been removed from service, consisted of modified AC 3-Tier coaches with side middle berths. The new LHB rakes consist of AC 3-Tier Economy coaches without side middle berths.
Active routes
Defunct routes
* 12255/56
Yesvantpur–Puducherry Garib Rath Express
The Yesvantpur–Puducherry Garib Rath Express was a Garib Rath Express train that ran between Bangalore ''Yeshvantapur railway station'' and Pondicherry (city), Puducherry. It was the first train service from Bangalore to Puducherry. Following ...
service converted to ordinary service
* 02709
Gudur
Gudur, natively known as Guduru, is a town in Tirupati district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the headquarters of Gudur mandal, Nellore district, Gudur mandal and Gudur revenue division.
Demographics
As of ...
Secunderabad
Secunderabad () is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the South ...
Garibrath Express special Rake Sharing With
Secunderabad
Secunderabad () is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the South ...
Yesvantpur Garibrath Express
* 0655/0656 Chennai CST Garibrath special & Chennai Central Tirunelveli Garibrath Special Rake Sharing With
Chennai
Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
–
Hazrat Nizamuddin Garibrath Express..
See also
References
Further reading
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External links
Garibrath & Yuva Train Names (archived from Indian Railways website)
{{Garib Rath Express
2005 establishments in India
Railway services introduced in 2005
Named passenger trains of India