Rlys in lockdown mode; Shatabdi, Rajdhani, Vande Bharat suspended
In view of a massive surge in Covid-19 cases and States imposing curfew and lockdown to contain the pandemic, the Indian Railways has gone for cancellation and suspension of huge numbers of trains, including premier trains such as Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Vande Bharat express.
At an average, the Railways has suspended 260 trains per day in the last ten days. The total number of suspended trains now stands at 2,600, which is more than one-fifth of the 12,000 trains operated by railways during the pre-Covid time. The Indian Railways had started the operations of almost 9,000 trains in October 2020. The number has now come down to around 6,400.
“Movement of certain pairs of the passenger trains is being suspended till further notice in view of surging Covid-19 positive cases and poor occupancy as well,” said Deepak Kumar, Chief Public Relations Officer, Northern Railways.
The cancellation of the premier trains is expected to send the domestic air ticket price soaring high and place the country in a state of semi lockdown with States introducing major restrictions on the movement of people. The decline in traffic is cited as official reason for the suspension of trains.
Apart from Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Vande Bharat express, the railways also suspended 14 pairs of long distance superfast trains operating from the national Capital on Thursday.
The trains suspended now include mail/express, holiday special and passengers specials.
Trains suspended till further notice from Friday onwards include Amritsar Shatabdi, Kalka Shatabdi, Bhopal Shatabdi, Dehradun Shatabdi, Chennai Rajdhani, Chhatisgarh Rajdhani, Katra Vande Bharat and other pairs.
According to Ministry of Railway sources, if the situation didn’t improve more trains could be suspended in coming days, bringing the passenger transport services to a near halt.
Earlier the suspension of the train was only for short distance duration but the Ministry of Railways has instructed the Zonal Railways to suspend trains wherever there is a massive Covid-19 surge and also poor occupancy.
So far zones like ECR, Central Railway, Southern Railway, South Eastern Railway catering to States like Bihar, UP Jharkhand, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Maharashtra had suspended their inter and intra-State passenger services due to sharp rise in covid cases and low occupancy in the trains.
The passenger train services had started in a phased manner last August after complete suspension in March end 2020. Most of the suspended trains are destined to Bihar, UP, Jharkhand and Odisha. Bihar has announced complete lockdown till middle of this month and given the acute surge in cases it is likely to be further extended.
