NEW DELHI:
Amid reports of overcrowding in trains and ticketless passengers ‘occupying’ reserved coaches, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday asserted that there cannot be any ‘compromise’ with the safety of passengers.
At a high-level meeting, which he chaired, Vaishnaw directed officials to prevent overcrowding of trains.
“A detailed discussion on all issues related to passenger safety and amenities took place. The special focus was on how to avoid overcrowding…this is to be done by identifying busy routes and introducing special trains for such routes. We also discussed ways to improve services as well as punctuality of trains,” a senior railway official, who attended the meeting, said.
“Also, regular services of equipment such as ACs, fans, and water coolers at stations have to be ensured during the summer rush,” the official added.
A divisional railway manager, who was also present in the meeting, stated that the minister emphasised that punctual running of trains will go ‘hand in hand’ with passenger safety and amenities.
On the punctuality front, Vaishnaw asked officials to analyse the ‘root cause’ of train detentions on certain stretches, an activity that leads to the overall punctuality getting impacted, according to the railway manager.
“It was conveyed to us that such detentions shall not be acceptable and punctuality figures are to be strictly monitored…the overall punctuality should be improved,” the manager said.
In recent days, social media has been flooded with visuals of ticketless passengers taking up seats/berths in reserved compartments. Recently, a video, which showed ticketless travellers in a premium Vande Bharat Express service, went viral on the internet, prompting a response from the Indian Railways.
“The video is of June 9 morning. The ticketless passengers had boarded the train when it was stationed at Lucknow Junction on Sunday for its journey to Dehradun. They were deboarded by railways officials and RPF (Railway Protection Force) right before departure,” Mahesh Gupta, public relations officer, Northern Eastern Railway, Lucknow division, informed the press.
