A post is going viral on social media that railway ministry is in the process of discontinuing Garib Rath train and also increased the fare.

The official page of Youth Congress tweeted, "The 'Garib Rath' service started by the Congress government in the year 2006 was a progressive step through which the poor people are able to get the AC travel on the train at a cheap rate".

The former member of the Lok Sabha Md Salim also tweeted, "The Garib Rath was an initiative of Lalu Parsad in 2006 to make air-conditioned trains accessible to the poor. The Modi government is now planning to discontinue all Garib Rath trains and convert it into Superfast trains".

National Herald, the congress mouth-piece published an article claiming that Garib Rath will turn into an Express train.

Several other media houses like Times Now, Zee News published the report claiming that Garib Rath services will be stopped.

Clarifications By Railways

After that On Friday, the Ministry of Railways has issued an explanation that there is no proposal to stop the Garib Rath train from running. If the Ministry takes a decision, the passengers will be informed about this beforehand. 

Railway Minister Suresh Angadi on Friday confirmed that Garib Rath Express will continue to run as usual and there will be no hike in train fare.

Ministry of Railways tweeted that Services of Train no. 12207/08 Garibrath Express between Kathgodam and Jammu Tawi and Train no. 12209/10 Garibrath Express between Kanpur and Kathgodam restored with effect from 4th August 2019.

According to the document shared by the Ministry of Railways, two pairs of weekly trains of Garib Rath services namely, Train No, 12207/08 between Kathgodam and Jammu Tawai and Train No, 12209/10 between Kanpur and Kathgodam were temporarily operated as Express train services by Northern Railway. 

Garib Rath services will be restored on these two sectors from Aug 04 and there is no proposal to discontinue Garib Rath services.

Doc tweeted by Ministry of Railways Twitter handle

According to a report, an update by the Railway Ministry had said the government was mulling phasing out Garib Rath trains. According to what the sources had revealed, the Railway Ministry had also asked the authorities to halt the production of new coaches for Garib Rath Express. The Garib Rath trains will either be completely phased out or be converted into mail or express trains.

Conclusion: There is no plan of government to discounting  Garib Rath Express. It will run as usual and there will be no hike in train fare.