Few travellers on Tejas trains despite festival season

Despite festive season, the Tejas Express, which re-started its operations from October 17, has failed to gather passengers in view of the COVID-19 threat. The train services were halted in March owing to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

Lucknow: The Tejas Express trains which resumed its operations in view of the growing demand of the festive season is experiencing poor passenger numbers due to the COVID-19 threat. The Lucknow-New Delhi-Ahmedabad-Mumbai Tejas Express has only 25 to 30 per cent of the passenger capacity in these days.

Government-owned Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) decided to re-start Tejas Train services after 210 days for catering to the growing demand of the people. The train services were halted in March owing to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

"Ever, since the train services resumed early this month, all-AC coach trains have got a negligible passenger footfall. On an average on 150-170 passengers travel every day which is lower than our expectations. We are expecting with the decline of coronavirus cases, passengers will start travelling and business will bounce back to normal," said a railway officer.

"For us, the safety of our passengers is our topmost priority. We are following all the COVID-19 protocols and necessary precautions are being maintained. We are also providing COVID-19 safety kits to the passengers and in order to maintain social distancing, we have done alternate booking arrangements," the officer added.

READ: IRCTC to re-start Tejas Express from Oct 17

Low demand in festive season

The Tejas Express trains resumed its operations on the very first day of Navratri and the officers were expecting that there would be high footfall of customers. But things did not go as per the expectations and even all the overnight superfast express trains are running vacant.

"Around 128 passengers boarded the train from Lucknow and with time, a slight increase in the number of passengers was also noticed. But it eventually came to still at 170. There are around 400 seats for which no bookings are taking place due to which passengers are less," IRCTC officer said.

All passengers are provided with a COVID-19 protection kit which contains a bottle of hand sanitiser, a face mask, a face shield and a pair of gloves. They will go through thermal screening and hand sanitisation process before entering a coach. It is mandatory for staff to wear face masks and safety gear as a precautionary measure. Passengers must arrive at the station 90 minutes earlier.

READ: Tejas trains resume service after seven months