There is a possibility of full resumption of all passenger trains by March-end, railway ministry said on Thursday. A decline in coronavirus cases and the commencement of vaccination across the country have prompted the railways to take this decision.
“We are hopeful of resuming the operations of all local, express and mail trains by the end of March,” said an official. Currently, around 65% of all mail and express trains are operating. “Every month we are adding nearly 150 trains and currently, 1,130 such trains are running besides the suburban train services across different zones,” said railway board CEO and chairman Suneet Sharma.
Premier service like Rajdhani and Shatabdi are operational as special trains besides local passenger service limping back to normalcy in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata regions.
The railways is also in talks with the states in the National Capital Region (NCR) to resume normal operation of local trains.
Sources said the issue of running local trains connecting various places in the NCR came up for discussion at a meeting of a parliamentary committee this week and the railways has assured the panel to expedite the resumption, which will bring huge relief to daily commuters from areas as far as Mathura, Palwal, Aligarh, Rewari and Ghaziabad.
Currently, only a few trains are being operated for the railway employees.
Before the pandemic, over 100 such local trains were operating between Delhi and the nearby areas. “We are aware of the situation. But we need to follow the process and take enough precautions considering the Covid-19 situation,” said an official.