On Day I of restart, very few board intrastate trains
Bhubaneswar: Intrastate trains received a poor response on resumption of services on Monday. It had been stopped since March 22.
Six trains connecting Bhubaneswar with Sambalpur, Rourkela, Bhadrak, Koraput, Berhampur and Balangir plied during the day.
These trains will ply till July 1 except on Saturdays and Sundays. Five trains will run on five days a week and the train connecting Bhubaneswar with Koraput will run three days a week, said East Coast Railway (ECoR) sources.
It further said there were only 67 passengers on the Khurda Road-Sambalpur special that had 794 seats. The train in the opposite direction had 230 passengers. Similarly, 230 passengers travelled in Bhubaneswar-Balangir special that had 867 seats. It’s pairing train Balangir-Bhubaneswar special had only 152 passengers.
Even the intra-state trains like Bhubaneswar-Berhampur special plied with only 20 passengers against it’s capacity of 648 seats. Bhubaneswar-Rourkela special also got only 123 passengers against 1,266 seats. Other trains Bhubaneswar-Bhadrak and Bhubaneswar-Koraput special also got less number of passengers, sources said. Chief public relations officer of ECoR J P Mishra said, “At least one train in each direction is now available. This is just the beginning. We request the passengers to maintain social distancing and observe all health protocols, including wearing masks.”
People with urgent work were travelling in the trains. “My father’s health condition is not good. My family wanted me at home. I got a confirmed ticket today and going to Balangir,” said Subash Suna, a construction worker.
Persons with confirmed tickets were allowed to board the train that were sanitised. Passengers had been asked to reach the boarding stations 90 minutes before the departure of the train. They were screened at the entrance to the stateion and had to wear masks. “There was no congestion in the trains due to less number of passengers. Social distancing had been maintained by the passengers,” said a senior officer. Tickets are available on passenger reservation system (PRS) counters at different railway stations and IRCTC website.
So far, 220 shramik special trains have arrived in Odisha carrying more than 2.7 lakh migrant workers since May 1. One train from Madgaon in Goa arrived in Balasore on Monday.