CLASSES OF ACCOMMODATION POST 1955
The accommodation available in the Indian
Railways in 1955 were :
(a)
Airconditioned
Class (i.e. AC First Class),
(b)
First
Class (old corridor-less Second Class reclassified),
(c)
Second
Class (old Inter Class reclassified) and
(d)
Third
Class.
The Passenger fares were standardized in
1956 at 30 paise, 16 paise, 09 paise and 05 paise per mile for 1st, 2nd, Inter
and 3rd class, respectively. (Platform tickets are 2 annas each.)
In 1956, The first fully
air-conditioned train was introduced between Howrah and Delhi with the name ”Bi-weekly
Airconditioned Vestibuled Express” (predecessor of the Poorva Exp.). A similar
train was introduced later between Delhi and Bombay Central (predecessor of the
Paschim Exp.). These trains were having Airconditioned Sleeper Class and Airconditioned
Chair Car connected through Vestibule as well as First Class and Third Class, which
were neither vestibuled, nor airconditioned. Thus the class “Airconditioned
Chair” was introduced in 1956.
Third
class 3-tier Sleeper having all births (without cushion) for sleeping at night
and sitting in day time were introduced in 1960. The fare was Third class fare
plus Reservation and Sleeper charges in addition.
Second
class 2-tier Sleeper (all births with cushion) having only the Upper Birth for
sleeping at night and the corresponding window seat for sitting in day time
were introduced in 1967 for few selected trains (Howrah-Delhi-Kalka mail,
Shealdah Delhi Express, GT Exp., Frontier Mail, Howrah-Madras Mail,
Bombay-Madras Exp., Delhi-Lucknow Mail, etc.).
In
1974, Second class was abolished and the Third Classes were renamed as Second
Class and consequently the existing 3-tier Sleeper Coaches were renamed as
"Second Class Sleeper Classes".
In
1993, Sleeper Class was introduced on IR, which were the existing 3-tier
Sleeper Coaches but with cushioned births. Its fare was made higher than Second
class, thereby making it a completely different from the Second class.
AC
2-tier coaches were introduced in 1979. Initially the fare for this class was
kept same as First Class. Subsequently, the fare was kept same as First Class
but additional Sleeper charge was levied in two slabs – one for travelling up
to 500 KM and the other for travelling more than 500 KM.
AC 3-tier coaches were introduced in
1993.
