With residents cancelling all non-essential travel plans in view of the coronavirus pandemic, the Shatabdi trains to New Delhi—one departing from Chandigarh and two from Kalka—have seen a huge dip in occupancy. The trains have a total capacity of 1,106 passengers.
As per the figures on the IRCTC (Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation) app around 5pm on Tuesday, the vacancy on evening Shatabdi train (12012) was 41%. The Delhi-bound train has 464 AC chair car seats and 46 executive class seats.
The same trend was seen on other prominent trains, including Paschim Express, Jan-Shatabdi Express and local passenger trains. The Chandigarh-Dibrugarh train (15904) saw as many as 200 ticket cancellations.
Divisional railway manager GM Singh said, “The government itself is discouraging travel. The footfall and reserved pass has gone down by 40%. We may suspend the trains if the trend continues. However, we are constantly monitoring and sending proposals to the headquarters. Whatever the instruction we got from the ministry, we are going to follow that.”
A railway official on the condition of anonymity said, “Shatabdi is one of the most prominent and profitable trains from Chandigarh railway station. And the occupancy on this train always remains full. This is the very first time that the train is running half empty.”
{{/usCountry}}A railway official on the condition of anonymity said, “Shatabdi is one of the most prominent and profitable trains from Chandigarh railway station. And the occupancy on this train always remains full. This is the very first time that the train is running half empty.”
{{/usCountry}}The Chandigarh railway station is one of the prominent stations catering to passengers from three states—Punjab, Haryana and Himachal. It witnesses a footfall of 9,000 people a day with 35 trains connecting Chandigarh with major cities such as New Delhi, Shimla, and Bangalore, Bombay, Goa, etc.
The station superintendent of Kalka railway station said, “We have not seen many dips in the passenger flow and presently, all tourist trains running on World Heritage Kalka-Shimla track.”