The graded unlocking and gradual resumption of train servicescoupled with a dip in the new COVID-19 cases, seem to have had a positive impact on train travel.
The train services across the country came to a grinding halt in March 2020 consequent to the outbreak of COVID-19. The railways operated Shramik Specials to cater to the migrant workers, and a limited number of passenger services were introduced subsequently most of which used to run only on select routes.
Though the Indian Railways is yet to announce the normal running of trains as per the scheduled timetable, sources said response to the limited number of trains operating is encouraging through it is nowhere near the pre-pandemic period.
The Mysuru Division of South Western Railway used to operate 145 trains in the pre-pandemic period. After the pandemic eased out, 84 trains have resumed to connect various destinations. This covers nearly 57 per cent of the passenger services provided by the division.
Statistics from the railway authorities also shows a positive trend in the passenger patronisation of various trains since the last few months.
Train Number 06504 which was among the first to be introduced in the country on May 22, 2020 connecting Mysuru with Bengaluru had 11.3 percentage utilisation during that month while the percentage utilisation was 15.06 during June. This was 17.53 per cent in July, increased to 42.94 per cent in August and peaked at 65.27 per cent in September. The average percentage utilisation during December was 62.71 per cent.
In terms of number of people travelling by the train, against a capacity of 1,938, the number of passengers during December used to vary from a low of 726 on a trip to a high of 1,896. Similar trends have been observed so far during the current month as well.
The percentage utilisation in case of the corresponding train from Bengaluru to Mysuru was 70.95 per cent during December. Similarly, the Chamarajanagar-Tirupati Express has a high patronisation and was 76.63 per cent during December, as per the railway records.
But in case of long distance services entailing overnight journey the response has been encouraging so far. Trains connecting Mysuru and Solapur, Mysuru-Jaipur, Mysuru-Ajmer Mysuru-Dharbanga have good patronisation.
Sources in the railways said though some of the coaches tend to be relatively empty during departure from Mysuru, passengers board the train at different stations en route which adds up to the total passengers patronising a service.
“The scenario was bad with near empty trains covering the entire stretch of the journey when a limited number of services were introduced in May. The situation remained the same till August but has gradually improved since September’’, the sources added.