The South Eastern Railway will not introduce new Summer Special trains for the denizens of State capital. Officials of the railway zone cite the reasons with the poor response from the recently started train from Hatia to Vishakhapatnam.
“Previously, we had started a train from Ranchi to Varanasi wherein the occupancy was around two per cent in the initial two weeks. Similar response is seen in the Vishakhapatnam express. It was launched two weeks back. Till date we have gained a profit of merely 20 per cent. It is not satisfactory,” said Arjun Mazumdar, Assistant Commercial Manager in the Ranchi division of South Eastern Railway.
Notably, the local passenger association members had been requesting the railway authorities to think of starting summer special trains for pilgrimages like Vaishno Devi as large number of people from the state visit such places during the summer vacations.
“Trains for Mumbai and Bangalore are often overloaded. The railway administration has been giving prime consideration to the demands of students who usually travel in these two trains. Special arrangements have been made here. We had urged for starting direct trains to the prominent pilgrimages exclusively for the season,” said Ashok Nagpal, vice-president of Chotanagpur Passengers Association.
Asked about the step taken by railway with regard to the request of the association, Mazumdar said it is not possible. “There is already one train running from Ranchi to Jammu. The response is poor since most of the people prefer a break journey through New Delhi. Moreover, there are sufficient trains for other routes. In such circumstances, we do not think there is a need to introduce more summer special trains,” he mentioned.
Meanwhile, sources at the Ranchi division informed that a list focusing various demands of the passenger association has been forwarded to the Headquarter of South Eastern Railway in Kolkata.