Covid surge: Travellers steer clear of trains
Amid a surge in Covid cases, travellers are largely avoiding train travel, causing railways’ expenditure to surpass its revenue, in yet another setback.
Amid a surge in Covid cases, travellers are largely avoiding train travel, causing railways’ expenditure to surpass its revenue, in yet another setback.
These days, most trains running from or through the Ludhiana Railway Station, including New Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi and Vande Bharat Express, have empty coaches.
For instance, only 375 of the 1,200 seats in the morning Shatabdi from Delhi to Amritsar had been reserved on Thursday. In the evening Shatabdi from Amritsar to Delhi, 450 seats remained vacant on Saturday.
Meanwhile, out of total 1,128 seats in Vande Bharat Express, 640 seats remained unreserved on Saturday and the train plied with just 488 passengers, adding to the loss of the railways.
An official, not willing to be named, said, “With Covid cases on the rise, we are seeing low footfall at the railway station. Only weekly trains to Bihar or Uttar Pradesh ply at full capacity.”
The officer added that the weekend lockdown in Jammu has also affected the passenger count in trains, including Vande Bharat Express.
“A one-side trip of an elite train currently costs more than its revenue as it includes includes fuel, track maintenance cost, staff cost, etc. With less footfall, railways is incurring losses,” said a railway official.
The surge in cases and reduced footfall at railway stations comes on the heels of farmers’ prolonged ‘rail roko’ protest, which had also caused major losses to the railways.
Catering continues
Unlike the first and the second waves of the virus when catering had been discontinued to check the spread of the virus, the railways has decided to continue serving hot meals on trains this time around.
Railways had resumed serving hot meals in trains in November 2021. Earlier, only packed food was being served in trains after resumption of services.
Cabs become collateral damage
The low footfall at railway station has also affected the cab business. Subekh Singh, a taxi driver, says, “Earlier, at least 50 taxis would get business each time prominent trains, including the Shatabdi, would reach Ludhiana, but now with hardly any passengers taking trains, our business has also taken a hit.”