With festivities around the corner and many travellers planning their vacation, getting confirmed berths is increasingly becoming a hassle with each new day.
No wonder, the Indian Railways has a plan!
Keeping the rush in mind, the railways plans to introduce 2,900 special trains between now and November 10. Wow, that’s going to be some relief for the passengers. And this initiative is being talked about at a time when more than 10 lakh passengers find it hard to get confirmed seats every day.
What’s more comforting?
The railways also aims at improving occupancy levels by adding coaches and making use of the available berths; thanks to the computer-enabled efficiency.
The limitation as we all know…
As per a recent study conducted by one of the premier train portals for train travellers, nearly 10-12 lakh potential travellers have been unable to travel everyday, thanks to their non-confirmed tickets. And these are the passengers whose waitlisted tickets didn’t get confirmed. Usually 13% of the long-distance train travellers fail to travel everyday. In peak season, the percentage goes up to 19%. That’s huge!
Besides Anand Vihar Terminal at New Delhi (43%), stations that face capacity constraints include
- Pune (20%)
- Bangalore City Junction (21%)
- Howrah (28%)
- Lokmanya Tilak Terminal (33%)
- Jammu Tawi (38%)
In case the train seats are not available or you are still on the waiting list, you can opt for these seasonal trains. Keep an eye on the train status by checking the PNR status of your train.
As per a railway official, “Increasing capacity by introducing more trains is not easy, as most of the routes face an overcapacity problem. The transporter has more than 1,219 sections that are high-density and connect metros, of which 492 sections are running at a capacity of over 100%. Another 228 sections are running at a capacity between 80% and 100%”.
Despite the severe capacity problem, the railways is confident that implementing initiatives such as transfer of vacant berths and Vikalp Scheme for alternative accommodation will aid the passengers to deal with such a constraint.
Mohammed Jamshed, Member Traffic, Railway Board, said, “From the first week of October to the first week of November is peak time when it comes to passenger travel. Keeping that in mind, we plan to introduce a total of 2,900 special trains. The figure was around 2,600 last year during the same period. Additionally, we plan to permanently add 800 coaches in our trains this fiscal, of which we already have attached more than 330 coaches on various trains”.
He further added, “The measures that we have taken have led to an increase in the average occupancy of trains, utilisation of berths, as well passenger traffic receipts”.
