Madurai
Chennai-Egmore-Madurai- Chennai Egmore Tejas Express has failed to get minimum patronage from passengers in view of the COVID-19 threat.
Railway officials said that the patronage has been less than 15% of around 1,000 seats in the train on many days. The premium train comprises 12 air-conditioned chair cars and one executive chair car. “This was a train that got an overwhelming patronage in the past and getting accommodation on many days was near impossible,” a travelling ticketing examiner said.
However, ever since the train services were resumed early this month after six months of lockdown, the all-AC coach train has got a negligible patronage.
“This is not an isolated case. Even all the overnight superfast express trains are running with many vacant berths in AC coaches though sleeper class coaches are getting full in weekends,” he added.
Southern Railway even changed timings of the Chennai Egmore-Madurai Tejas Express to enable people to reach the station on time to make up for the lack of adequate public transport facility in the early mornings.
When the officials conducted a survey among the travelling public for three days on October 9, 10 and 11, vast majority of the 206 passengers described the overall travel experience by Tejas as good, very good and excellent.
“Similarly, they gave top ratings on three important parameters like cooling in the AC coaches, their ambience and staff behaviour,” a senior official in Madurai Division said.
The official said that the poor patronage in Tejas could be due to the fear perception among the passengers to travel in AC coaches under the pandemic conditions.
More people have got used to travel by cars in the last few months during the absence of public transport as they feel car travels are safer. Besides, they could avoid using public transport vehicles like buses, metro trains and cabs during their stay outside home.