Massive rush of passengers for trains for Chhath festival
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, November 16: Presenting the 2016 Rail Budget, former Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu had said that the longstanding desires of the passengers for reserved berths. He set the deadline for ticket on demand by 2020, and Prabhu made the promise while presenting the Rail Budget in the Lok Sabha in 2016 – a commitment made on floor of parliament.
“Jaante ho…Bihar ki sab train me ticket first day hi book ho gaya …chatth se chaar mahina pahle (do you known, all tickets for Bihar-bound trains have been fully booked on first day of the booking, four months ahead of the journey),” a rail beat reporter with a Hindi Daily said. The Railways allows train ticket booking four months in advance.
In 2016, Prabhu, the face of the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre for the transformation of the Railways, had unveiled an all-encompassing vision in the Lok Sabha. “By 2020 long-felt desires of the common man will be fulfilled. The objectives include reserved accommodation on trains on demand, time-tabled freight trains, high-end technology to improve safety record, elimination of all unmanned level crossings, improved punctuality and higher speed of freight trains and zero direct discharge of human waste,” Prabhu had listed promises in the Lok Sabha while presenting the Rail Budget.
Last week one person died in stampede at Surat railway station as he waded into sea of the people to catch a train for Bihar to celebrate Chhath with family members. One young woman demanded compensation from Union Minister for Railways Ashwani Vaishnav for missing her train and sustaining serious injuries during stampede like situations. Social media platforms are flooded with pictures of passengers, including women, getting into train compartments through windows.
Prabhu failed to break the railway jinx of Cabinet ministers unceremoniously kicked out after a short spell of term. His successor Piyush Goyal had stormy relations with the Railway Board which included differences in policy matters and sparring became a media spectacle. He too exited Rail Bhavan shortly. His successor Ashwini Vaishnav crafted an image of rail modernisation with Vande Bharat rollouts but a spate of accidents, including horrendous accidents involving multiple trains, left his PR-polished face muddied. Prabhu’s promises to parliament were left gathering dusts in the Rail Bhavan.
While Vaishnav was making Prime Minister Narendra Modi to flag off Vande Bharat trains, AC chair-cars for short-distance Shatabdi routes, the Ministry of Railways came out with a data this week to reveal that there was an exponential rise in the number of passengers for unreserved trains. The data for three months, April to October in 2023, revealed that the total no. of passengers carried in non-AC coaches (General and Sleeper Class) was 95.3 per cent (372 crore) of total number of passengers travelling on the railway networks, amounting to an additional 38 crore passengers in comparison to last year. “Total number of passengers carried in AC coaches was 4.7 per cent (18.2 crores). Last year, 334 crore passengers travelled in trains. Out of additional 41.1 crore additional passengers this year, 92.5 per cent travelled in non-AC (General & Sleeper Class),” added the note of the Ministry of Railways.
While there is evidently an exponential rise in number of rail passengers on the basis of an accelerated migrant migration due to economic reasons, the note of the railways admits that the increase in the number of trains is far inadequate — 10,748 (now) against 10,186 (pre-covid).
Despite 92 per cent additional passengers travelling in unreserved compartments, such trains are now 2852 against 2,792 (pre-covid) – an increase of just 60 in the last four years. It may be noted that the Railways has plans to rollout 75 Vande Bharat trains this year.
The Mumbai sub-urban train travel is celebrated for the resilience of the people to reach their destinations by wading into an ocean of people each day. The note of the Railways says that the number of sub-urban trains increased from 5,626 (pre-covid) to 5,774 (now).
Prabhu is now in the wilderness of his political career. His vision also evidently lies in tatters. “I will either modernise Railways or leave the organisation,” Prabhu had told this author in an interview as a minister in 2016. Now, his vision lies in tatters.
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