Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, while announcing the Railway Budget for 2007-08, has announced plans to replace all wooden seats with cushioned seats in all unreserved second-class coaches.

"I am well acquainted with the travails and difficulties faced by passengers traveling in unreserved second class coaches.

• Rail Budget 2007-08: Complete Coverage

"At present, unreserved second class coaches in mail/express and ordinary passenger trains are mostly provided with wooden seats without cushion. This causes inconvenience to the passengers.

"Therefore, we have decided that from 2007-08, production of wooden seats will be stopped. In future, cushioned seats will be manufactured for unreserved second class coaches as is the case for sleeper coaches," he said.

To learn more about the Budget click here