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Surge in Shramik trains to UP, Bihar clog network, railways cite congestion
“Most of the destinations in UP are around Lucknow-Gorakhpur sector and in Bihar around Patna. Of 565 trains running since yesterday, 266 were going to Bihar and 172 to Uttar Pradesh,” the ministry said.
With several Shramik Special trains bound for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar being delayed and diverted over the past two days, the ministry of railways on Sunday said the convergence of trains to these destinations have caused congestion in the network adding that the total number of trains to the region has increased.
“Most of the destinations in UP are around Lucknow-Gorakhpur sector and in Bihar around Patna. Of 565 trains running since yesterday, 266 were going to Bihar and 172 to Uttar Pradesh,” the ministry said.
This comes a day after a Gorakhpur-bound Shramik Special train from Maharashtra ended up in Rourkela, Odisha adding two days and five states to the original journey, leaving its passengers clueless. The ministry had yesterday clarified that the train was diverted via Rourkela to “clear congestion”. A migrant special on the same day scheduled to reach Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh was diverted to Muzzafarpur in Bihar.
Several trains have had to be re-routed due to this over the past two days, officials say as a single division, North Eastern Railway zone, has had to cater to bulk of the traffic bound for the two states.
“To ease the congestion a few trains were diverted via Mathura, Jharsuguda. Further, route rationalisation order has been issued to avoid congestion on routes with heavy traffic. Round the clock monitoring at the Railway Board level, zonal railway level and divisional level is being done to ensure that trains are not delayed,” the ministry said.
“The train running staff have also been sensitised to ensure punctual running of Shramik Special trains. With these efforts, the congestion position has eased considerably and the mobility of trains has drastically improved.”
The Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) control rooms have been struggling to coordinate with traffic management due to the congestion, with a surge in demand for migrant special trains towards Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Chairman, Railway Board VK Yadav on Saturday announced the railways will run 2600 timetabled Shramik Trains over the next 10 days.
“The division is running more trains than it does even during normal times, more than 200 trains are running towards Eastern UP and Bihar leaving the Shramik train routes congested. There is a lot of demand for trains for these regions as more migrants are lining up. Apart from the traffic, these trains are not regular timetabled services and hence coordination of traffic becomes more chaotic. It also takes at least 2-3 hours for the passengers to board and de-board that causes further delays,” the official said.
Nearly 80% of the total Shramik Special trains are destined for the two states, the railways ministry said adding that the “congestion position has eased considerably and the mobility of trains has drastically improved”.
Indian Railways has run around 2813 Shramik Special trains till Sunday, ferrying nearly 37 lakh passengers. “Nearly 60 per cent trains originated from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Punjab and are majorly destined for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. 80 per cent of total Shramik trains are destined for various destinations in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar (1301 for UP and 973 for Bihar),” the railway ministry said.
“Convergence of trains to these destinations caused congestion in the network. Further, increased time taken in de-boarding of passengers due to the various health and social distancing protocols at the stations is leading to congestion at terminals which further affects network congestion,” it added.
There have also been several complaints by passengers aboard the Shramik Trains that have been diverted of being stranded without any arrangement of food and water.
“Due to the surge in east bound trains leading to network congestion, trains got delayed and this affected the meals distribution schedule. IRCTC and Railways have mobilized resources to ensure regular supply of meals and water to the Shramik trains and minimize inconvenience to the passengers,” the ministry added.
