The Indian Railways has been terming reverse migration as a summer rush. However, 80 per cent of the total additional trains being operated until May are on the Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR). Of the total trips, over 90 per cent of them are from stations and terminuses in Mumbai and its metropolitan region.
The Indian Railways will be operating 140 extra trains and completing 483 trips across the country for the months of April and May. Of these, the CR is taking the major load with 85 trains that will complete 284 trips. Likewise, the WR will operate 28 trains that would complete 152 trips for the lakhs of passengers departing from the city. The two railway zones are bearing the burden with 113 additional trains to complete 436 trips.
“We were informed about overcrowding at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus and Bandra Terminus in Mumbai two to three days ago. We have made ample arrangements and are meeting the demand of passengers as well. Only those who have reserved tickets are being allowed,” said Suneet Sharma, Chairman and CEO, Railway Board.
The railway ministry doesn’t want to coin any term like how they did last year by running Shramik Special trains despite the fact that these too were being operated in May when summer special trains run. At present, the Railways is operating 1,490 special trains on a daily basis. There are 28 ‘clones’ as well, which are trains going by the same name to states, cities and towns that patronise high demand from passengers.
Some destinations that have high demand are Gorakhpur, Patna, Darbhanga, Varanasi, Guwahati, Manduadih, Barauni, Prayagraj, Bokaro, Ranchi, Lucknow, Kolkata, and Bhagalpur. The situation is such that theRrailways had to make last moment arrangements for special trains though it wasn’t part of their schedule by assembling coaches.
