Train services should resume

Restrictions on Covid in the state have been completely relaxed. Restrictions remain in place only in rare areas. All traffic restrictions have been lifted. Public transportation is also returning to normal. However, the railways are still imposing restrictions on ordinary commuters. Passenger trains, on which ordinary commuters rely, have not yet resumed. There have been frequent announcements that it will start soon but it has not yet resumed. As government offices across the state began to function normally, tens of thousands of employees who used to commute regularly by train are now worried about not having adequate transportation. There were no complaints about travel difficulties as most of the staff were at home during the lockdown. But that is not the case now. There were several trains that ran according to office hours. Some of them have not started running yet. Employees from rural areas are facing huge financial and time wastage due to non-resumption of service of passenger trains that have halt at all stations. All running trains are Express-Mail so the ticket price is much higher than the normal fare. Apart from this, you have to reserve a ticket to travel on such trains. These are the conditions that put passengers in a fix. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that express trains do not stop at smaller stations in between.

Passenger trains and MEMUs can be used as usual to meet the travel needs of ordinary train passengers. It is essential that train services return to normal as government offices, other institutions and the debt market begin to function normally. With the opening of colleges in October, students will also have to travel. The season ticket facility, which is currently suspended, also needs to be restored immediately. The railway authorities need to take immediate action in this regard as well.

Even before Covid, the authorities had shown a step-mother policy towards train passengers in the state. In the Covid case, it culminated. Many new vehicles were stopped due to lack of new vehicles. Complaints can never be resolved satisfactorily as there is no one to speak for the railway passengers. All development work, including additional services and expansion of stations, has stalled or dragged on since Covid’s arrival. Even the authorities cannot say how long it will take for train services to resume completely. It would have been a great blessing to the common man if the suspended passenger and memo services had been resumed.