Govt plans 80 new trains from Sept 12

NEW DELHI: The Indian Railways will deploy 80 special trains from September 12, in addition to the 230 special trains currently operating, the railway ministry announced on Saturday. The reservation for the special trains will begin from September 10, the ministry said.

“We will notify 80 new special trains or 40 pair pairs of trains that will start operations from September 12. The reservations will begin from September 10. This will run in addition to the 230 trains already in operation,” Railway board chairman and CEO VK Yadav said.

The government will also deploy ‘clone trains’ on routes where the occupancy is more depending on the waitlist for the trains. “Wherever there is demand for a particular train, wherever the waiting list is long, we will run a clone train ahead of the actual train, so that passengers can travel,” he added.

Yadav said the stoppages of the clone trains will be less than the special trains. “The idea is to have stoppages at major stations

for clone trains to meet demands of people,” he said.

In July, the overall occupancy of the special trains stood at 75%. According to railway ministry data, only a fourth of these trains had an occupancy rate of 100%. Yadav said the occupancy of the trains has gone up to 80-85% now and about a dozen trains are low occupancy.

There are many stations from where the migrant workers are returning to their places of work, Yadav said, adding that this was a key factor in starting the 80 new trains. Railways is also coordinating with the state governments, he said.

“Many of these trains are running in reverse direction of the Shramik Special trains. So, they are leaving their homes and going towards their workplaces. The occupancy of 12 trains is very less among the 230 trains, so we are running them, but will reduce the number of coaches. We are monitoring the occupancy of trains and will run more trains as per demand,” Yadav said.

He said that the Railways will also run trains if there is a demand from states for students appearing for exams.

The railway ministry had earlier said that it will run special trains for students appearing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Examination (JEE).

The decision comes in the wake of the ministry of home affairs announcing the guidelines for “Unlock 4” on August 29. The latest plan, the Centre has said, is aimed at reopening more economic activities.

We will notify 80 new special trains... The reservations will begin from September 10

VK YADAV, Rly board CEO