Indian Railways is committed to make India accessible for Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) as part of “Sugamya Bharat Mission” or Accessible India Campaign of Government of India. Improvement/augmentation of amenities at Railway stations, including those for differently abled passengers is a continuous process. Provisions of facilities for Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) are to be provided at all stations over Indian Railways. The categorization of station is reviewed every five years. In April,2018, it has been decided to change the categorization of Station from ‘A-1’, ‘A’ & ‘B’, (C0, ‘D’, ‘E’ & ‘F’ category to NSG1 - NSG6, SG1 – SG3 & HG1 – HG3 based upon passenger handled and earnings of the stations. In order to provide better accessibility to Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Short Term Facilities and Long Terms facilities have been planned at all stations, beginning with Non Suburban Group ‘NSG 1’, ‘NSG 2’, ‘NSG 3’ & ‘NSG 4’ (erstwhile ‘A-1’, ‘A’ & ‘B’) category stations. The details of Railway stations provided with Short-Term Facilities so far for Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) under all categories of stations over Indian Railways are as under:-

Long-Term Facilities are to be provided for Divyangjan at ‘NSG-1’ to ‘NSG-4’ categories of stations, which are as follows:-

Also regarding making trains disabled friendly, around 3,800 Disabled friendly Integral Coach Factory (ICF) design coaches (SLRD/SRD) are available in the fleet of Indian Railways. These coaches have a suitably designed compartment & toilet adapted to the needs of the disabled / wheel chair borne passengers. In these coaches, wider entrance door, wider berths, wider compartments, larger lavatory and lavatory doors, etc. have been provided. Inside the toilets, additional grab rails on the side walls for support and wash basin and mirror at a lower height are also available. It is endeavored to have at least one such coach in each Mail/Express train having ICF type coaches. Further, LHB type coaches with facilities for the disabled on similar lines as is available in ICF design coaches are also under manufacture at Integral Coach Factory/Chennai. For the assistance of the visually impaired travelers, Integrated Braille Signages, i.e. signages superimposed with Braille scripts, are being provided in the newly manufactured coaches. Further, retrofitment of the same in existing coaches has also been taken up in a phased manner.

There were 709 ‘A1’, ‘A’ & ‘B’ category stations (erstwhile) catering to bulk of passenger traffic on Indian Railways out of which 670 station have been provided with all Short-Term Facilities and 639 stations have been provided with all Long-Term Facilities. As per new categorization of stations there are ‘21 stations in NSG1 category’, ‘77 stations in NSG2 category’, ‘227 stations in NSG3 category’ and ‘286 stations in NSG4 category’ thus there are total 611 stations falling in ‘NSG1’ to ‘c’ categories. The details of Railway stations provided with Short-Term Facilities so far for Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) at NSG4 category of stations over Indian Railways are as under:-

Long-Term Facilities are to be provided for Divyangjan at ‘NSG-4’ category of stations, which are as follows:-

In order to facilitate easy movement of elderly, sick and differently abled passengers and for smooth access to platforms of major railway stations and for ease of movement, escalators/lifts are being provided as part of ‘Sugamya Bharat Abhiyaan’. As per the revised policy guidelines of Indian Railways, Escalators are to be provided at end platforms of railway stations having footfall of more than one lakh. Lifts are being provided depending upon the relative priority of various stations and the availability of resources and feasibility for provision of lifts. So far, 536 escalators at 199 stations and 406 lifts at 179 stations have been provided.

This information was given by the Minister of State of Railways, Shri Rajen Gohain in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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SVS/MKV/ENS