Railways cancelled 1,900 trains in last 3 months due to coal movement: RTI
PremiumThe Railways was compelled to prioritise the passage of coal rakes over passenger services due to a serious power shortage.
According to a Right to Information (RTI) request, the Railways cancelled almost 1,900 trains owing to coal movement in the last three months.The query also revealed that about 9,000 railway services had been cancelled in 2022. According to a response to the RTI request filed by Chandra Shekhar Gaur, the Railways halted 6,995 train services for repair or construction purposes, while 1,934 trips were cancelled owing to coal traffic from March to May.
Officials stated the Railways was compelled to prioritise the passage of coal rakes over passenger services due to a serious power shortage. They also stated that the national transporter was on track to deliver 58 supercritical and 68 essential projects costing over ₹1,15,000 crore in the next few years, adding that maintenance and construction operations were being prioritised across its network.
However, this has had a significant impact on passenger mobility across the country, particularly during the summer months. According to the RTI, the Railways cancelled 3,395 mail/express train services between January and May, while 3,600 passenger train trips were cancelled during the same period owing to maintenance or construction work.
While in January and February, no train services were cancelled due to coal movement, 880 mail/express train services and 1,054 passenger train services were cancelled due to the prioritising of coal rakes in the last three months.
The Railways is also struggling to provide confirmed tickets to passengers due to a shortage in trains, a severe surge in demand for tickets over the last few years and lack of new trains.
According to official estimates, more than 1.60 crore people who had purchased tickets were unable to travel in 2021-22 due to a wait-list, indicating a train shortage on major lines. Because coal rakes were prioritised, the Railways had their best-ever monthly freight loading of 131.6 million tonnes (MT) in May 2022.
The loading of coal to power houses -- both domestic and imported -- has increased by more than 11 MT in May with 52.4 MT coal being moved to power houses as against 41.01 MT last year, registering a 28 per cent growth. Cumulatively, in the first two months of this year, Indian Railways loaded over 18 MT extra coal to power houses as compared to the same period last year with a growth of 24 per cent.
According to the figures, the passenger sector requirement in 2019-2020 was 8.4 billion and the average drop in the waiting list was 8.9 per cent. During the busy season, 13.3 percent passengers were not able to get confirmed reservations.
With the demand for more trains from passengers, the Railways has introduced around 800 new trains in the last six years since the Railway Budget was merged with the General Budget in 2016. On an average, the Railways operates a little over 11,000 trains per day.
(With agency inputs)