GRP, RPF men escorting trains to get berths

Nagpur: The Railway Board has directed all the divisions to earmark berths for Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) staff while manning the trains.One side lower berth in S1 coach will be left for the protection staff either from GRP or RPF. In case if both are not escorting the trains than no accommodation will be provided.The Railway Board circular states that berths and seats to be earmarked on-board will be keept in view of the composition of the train.Meanwhile, the board has also revised accommodation for train ticket examiners (TTEs) and conductors with the advent of change in coach composition in trains like Duronto, Humsafar, Suvidha Special among others. Officials said the need to necessitate change in accommodation for TTEs is that capacity of conventional 3AC coaches is 64 berths while LHB coaches it is 74 and 3E coaches it is 78 berths.They said the number of berths to be utilized by the on-board ticket checking staff will be equal to the number of staff and excess berths will be released to RAC passengers.