Amid increasing Covid cases and lockdown announcements in various parts of the country, the Indian Railways has said it has no intent to stop or curtail train services in the country.
A sudden surge in passenger movement at railway stations has been reported from across the country, with the rise in the number of Covid cases in several states. “Railways will continue running the trains as per demand. There is no shortage of trains for those who want to travel,” Railway Board chairman Suneet Sharma said on Friday.
Sharma also dismissed the crowds seen at railway stations as normal during these months.
At present, IR is operating 1,402 specials train services on an average per day, a total of 5381 suburban and 830 passenger train services. Apart from this, 28 special trains are being operated as clones of trains with high patronage.
For the convenience of passengers, IR will run four Shatabdi Express trains and one Duronto Express special train from 10 to 15 April, 2021.
Additional trains are being run during the April-May period to clear the rush, which includes 29 pairs in Central Railway and 30 pairs in Western Railway. The trains are for destinations having high demand like Gorakhpur, Patna, Darbhanga, Varanasi, Guwahati, Barauni, Prayagraj, Bokaro, Ranchi and Lucknow. Summing up the achievements of the national transporter in 2020-21, Sharma said IR defied the Covid challenges to complete 2,324 km of new lines, doubling and gauge conversion in FY21 as compared to 2,226km in FY20.
In electrification, IR has commissioned 6,015 km of projects in the last fiscal year as compared to 4,378 km in 2019-20. With a sustained focus on passenger safety, IR has reduced passenger fatalities to zero since April 2019, constructed 145 road overbridge in FY 21 compared to 145 in FY 20 and carried out 5,510 km of track renewal in FY21 compared to 5,181 km in FY 20. Besides, 120 escalators were installed in FY21 against 86 in FY20 and 156 lifts were installed in 2020-21 against 92 in FY20.