Special trains ferry more than 50K passengers so far
The Indian Railways said that it has cancelled all bookings for train tickets made till June 30 and gave full refunds
NEW DELHI: Since the Northern Railways has started resumption of partial trains from national Capital to other parts of the country and viceversa since Wednesday, more than 50,000 passengers have reportedly been ferried so far.
On Thursday, as many as eight Rajdhani-type superfast special trains were departed from New Delhi railway station to other states while six such trains arrived to the city.
As far as Shramik special trains are concerned, a total of eight trains departed from various railway stations coming under Delhi (DLI) Division to various parts of the country on Thursday. As per the report, on Wednesday, the railways ferried over 20,000 passengers and on Thursday over 25,000 more are expected to travel in these superfast specials and Sharmik specials.
The Indian Railways, however, said that it has cancelled all bookings for train tickets made till June 30 and gave full refunds, adding that Special and Shramik trains will be plied as usual. Regular train services, including mail, express, passenger, and suburban have been cancelled, said a notification issued by Director, Passenger Marketing, Railway Board. “The competent authority has desired that all tickets booked for trains for the period up to June 30, 2020 may be cancelled and full refund generated,” it added.
Meanwhile, in the absence of the public transport, reaching back to their respective homes proved a horrendous task for passengers. Most of them were forced to walk to their homes.
“We have not received food or ration for the last one month. Now, the police is beating us as we are going back to our homes. Even Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has not done anything for us,” said a tearful passenger.
They have already exhausted all their money and food as the nationwide lockdown inched towards Day 50. Their journey on foot started on Wednesday from the national Capital.
Those who reached the city had similar issues as they were not able to get public transport to reach their destinations.
“We deboarded at New Delhi station. I want to go to Seelampur. But there is no public transport like bus or auto or taxi to go home. I don’t know how to reach home,” said a passenger.
Another passenger, who arrived here from Varanasi in another Rajdhani train on Wednesday, said he really felt homeless as he had to spent the night on street. “I took the special train to come to Delhi on Wednesday. My train to Jammu is on Thursday. I hunted for space to spend the night but there was none as all hotels and rest houses are shut,” he said.