The Ministry of Railways on Saturday, February 13 clarified that no date has been fixed yet for the resumption of all passenger trains and completely denied the reports that the national carrier is planning to resume all passenger trains from April in view of declining COVID-19 cases in the country. The Official Spokesperson for the Ministry of Railways has on its Twitter handle informed about the same. All the passenger trains in the nation were suspended in March last year following the national lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
The Indian Railways in a release said that constant clarification is being given to the media about the resumption of full passenger trains for the last few days and it is being reiterated that no such date has been fixed to restartthe full operations yet.
It further went on to say that the railways have been increasing the number of train services in a graded manner and already more than 65 percent of trains are running,while more than 250 plus trains were added in January alone.
The ministry also informed that more trains will be added gradually after taking care of all the factors and inputs of all stakeholders. Requesting to avoid speculation in this regard, the ministry also said that the media and public will be duly informed as and when such a decision is taken.
From February 1, the government had restarted local train services in Mumbai and made it available in three time slots, beginning from 7 am; 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm; and from 9:00 pm to end of the day.
Due to the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the revenue of the Indian Railways in 2020 had declined by Rs 36,993 crore as compared to the previous year, informed the Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to the Parliament.
He added that the railways have not been encouraging the movement of passengers in order to effectively manage the pandemic and contain its spread.
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