THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
In order to clear the extra rush of traffic, Southern Railway operated 1221 special trains during April – December, 2017 as compared to the 639 special trains that were operated during April – December, 2016, originating from Southern Railway to various destinations.
Out of these, 436 special trains were run towards south Tamil Nadu, 478 special trains towards Kerala and 307 special trains towards other destinations. The demands of the passengers travelling during various festivals were also met as follows:
·28 special trains during Velankanni festival.
·51 special trains during Onam / Puja festival.
·49 special trains during Deepavali festival.
·137 special trains for Sabari Season.
·46 special trains for winter season / Melamaruvathur / Irumudi festival.
· 19 special trains during Pongal season.
Special trains were run between Chennai Egmore – Tirunelveli, Chennai Central – Kollam, Madurai – Chengalpattu, Coimbatore – Chengalpattu and various other sectors. Suvidha special trains were run between Chennai Egmore – Tirunelveli, Madurai to Chennai Egmore, Puducherry to Santragachi, Chennai Central to Ernakulam and between Chennai Central – Kollam.
An additional 240 special trains are being run for the period from January to March, 2018. During the first quarter of the year 2018 – 19 (April – June, 2018), nearly 500 summer special trains are being planned to be run to clear the extra rush of passengers.
In view of the bus strike, Southern Railway is operating 43 additional special trains daily over Tamil Nadu. Southern Railway also added 2060 extra coaches facilitating movement of 1.05 lakh additional passengers during April 2017 to December 2017.
Moreover, special trains originated from other railway zones were also run. The Passengers Reservation System reveals the number of passengers by special trains as 6.65 lakhs and the passenger earnings as Rs.56.87 crores during April – December, 2017. This shows an increase of 71% in the number of passengers and an increase of 51% in passenger earnings by the special trains operated as compared to last year.
