Indian Railways IRCTC usually runs loss-making trains keeping in mind the facilities of railway passengers. But IRCTC has decided that the services of loss making trains should be stopped.
There is news of work for railway passengers. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has taken a big decision. IRCTC is going to stop the low profit trains run by it. IRCTC has told the Ministry of Railways that it cannot operate the Kashi Mahakal Express. It is one of the three private passenger trains that it started running before the pandemic.
Significantly, this train was started to connect various tourist places, especially religious places in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. IRCTC is also considering various options including some tough calls for Tejas Express, the first privately run passenger train in the country.
IRCTC had to take a decision
According to IRCTC, there was a shortage of passengers on the route of Kashi-Mahakal Express, so we had informed Indian Railways about three months ago that it would be difficult for us to operate that train in the current circumstances. Indian Railways’ third privately operated train Kashi-Mahakal Express started its commercial operation in February 2020. Passengers traveling in this train can visit three pilgrimage places Omkareshwar (near Indore), Mahakaleshwar (Ujjain) and Kashi Vishwanath (Varanasi). However, IRCTC expected bookings to start based on the demand for religious tourism before the pandemic.
Tough decision on operation of Tejas Express
IRCTC Chairman-cum-Managing Director Rajni Hasija said in a call last week that the management may take a tough decision on the operation of Tejas Express. However, Hasija did not disclose the reason for this. Other partners may be explored to manage the train operations to reduce the cost including reducing the frequency of this train. The official said that the operation of Tejas Express was resumed by IRCTC in August this year.
Significant reduction in the number of passengers
According to IRCTC, the number of passengers in these trains has come down. The Indian Railways has approached the Ministry of Railways for waiver of the cost to be paid to the public sector unit Indian Railways for parking and maintaining its trains on the railway network. IRCTC has also demanded waiver of lease charges for these trains, citing the steep fall in passenger traffic during the pandemic. Significantly, in the last few pandemic-affected quarters, Indian Railways had waived off certain charges for PSUs.
Domestic tourism expected to increase demand
After the changing situation of trains, IRCTC is now expecting a boom in domestic tourism. In the June-September quarter of the current financial year, IRCTC started offering tourist packages covering religious and tourist destinations such as Badrinath, Dwarka, Rameswaram, places in the Northeast, Ladakh, Leh and Kerala as well as other places in the domestic circuit. .
