July 19 (AZINS) The government has taken a u-turn over its proposed move to convert Garib Rath trains into mail/express trains and said that there is no proposal to discontinue its services, the Railway Ministry has confirmed.

Also, there will neither be a change in its fares or compensation as well.

Taking it to Twitter, the Railways Ministry said, "It is clarified that there is no proposal to discontinue Garib Rath Services on Indian Railways."

As per sources, the government was earlier mulling to phase out Garib Rath trains and replace them with express trains. 

Meanwhile, two Garib Rath train services — 12207/08 Garibrath Express between Kathgodam and Jammu Tawi and 12209/10 Garibrath Express between Kanpur and Kathgodam — whose services were temporarily affected, will be restored with effect from August 4, 2019.

Owing to a temporary shortage of coaches on Northern Railway, two pairs of weekly trains of Garib Rath services were temporarily operated as express train services by northern railways.

Currently, there are 26 tracks of Garib Rath trains operating in Indian Railways.

Garib Rath train services are very popular as they facilitate air-conditioned travel at fares which are lower than the normal AC-3 ties fares.