Even as the Railways are aiming to launch high-speed train service in the country, lakhs of low-income passengers are forced to travel in near inhuman condition on the mail and express trains, owing to the festival rush.
The Railways for their part are operating special trains besides augmenting the carrying capacity of the regular trains to cater to the festival rush.
But clearly this is not enough as was evident at the New Delhi railway station on Friday.
Most of the trains connecting the Capital and other North India destinations to different places in Bihar, Jharkhand and Eastern Uttar Pradesh were running beyond capacity and passengers with valid tickets found themselves stranded as the coaches were jam-packed.
It was almost impossible for many of the passengers to even step into the general compartments of most of these trains.
While the authorities had taken several crowd management measures at the railway stations in the city, they failed to meet the increased demand of trains especially for passengers travelling in the unreserved category. Desperate passengers were forced to complete their hours-long journey in the toilets of the trains.
The situation was even grimmer for those travelling with their families.
“I tried to get into one of the compartments, but retreated as people are sitting even on the footrest. All trains are running full, and this is an annual affair. We don't understand why the Railways can’t add more general coaches when the maximum rush is clearly visible in this category,” said Sambhu, who was unable to board the Mahabodhi Express to Gaya at the New Delhi railway station on Friday.
Most of the East-bound trains like the Vaishali, Lichhavi, Sampark Kranti, Magadh, Vikramshila, Swatantra Sainani Express etc. are running overcrowded.
The officials, however, said they are operating several special trains to meet the festival rush.
“In view of heavy rush of passengers for Chhath festival, Northern Railway has started an additional special train No.04446 for Patna. All the coaches of this train are unreserved. The special train left Anand Vihar Terminal at 3 p.m. on Friday and it would run via Moradabad,” a Northern Railway official said.
