Railways to install work stations in Rajdhani trains

South-bound trains to be first to have them

Rajdhani travellers can soon look forward to some getaway moments during their journey as the Railways has finalised plans to install work stations fitted with office electronics in its premier train service.

Work stations equipped with laptop, printer, fax machine and Internet facility will be set up in a Rajdhani train on a pilot basis soon, said a senior Railway Ministry official. As per the plan, a cubicle will be carved out in the pantry car for the work station and passengers can avail the facility by paying a fee.

“To begin with, work station will be made operational at the pantry car and depending upon the response we will work out a permanent place for it,” he said. The official, however, said fee structure for the service has not been decided yet. “Modalities are being worked out and the fee will be on hourly basis,” he said.

He said a long distance south-bound Rajdhani train is likely to be selected for the pilot project. The aim is to cater to the requirement of business and leisure travellers. “While the work station is expected to add best value to business travellers, it can also be utilised by leisure travellers who can use the facility for entertainment purpose too,” the official said.

Besides Rajdhani trains, preparations are afoot to convert the entire coach as “office on wheel” as promised in the Rail Budget 2014-15. The concept of “office on wheel” will be executed on Shatabdi trains and three routes have been short listed for the purpose.

According to the official, premier services running between Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Kanpur and Chennai-Bangalore will have exclusive coaches with "office on wheel" facility.

Internet facility, better and comfortable seating and catering arrangements will be provided in the specially designed coaches, he added.