THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The rail passengers, especially those who are dependent on cheaper mode of transport to commute to work and back, complained of fleecing by the Railways for continuing to keep the trains running in the state as ‘fully reserved special trains’.
Though the Railways is set to resume the services of five more inter-city trains including the Vanchinad Express from Monday, the trains have been categorised as ‘fully reserved special trains’ much to the disappointment of passengers.
The special trains require passengers to reserve the tickets which will come with additional cost. While booking tickets requires one to queue up at the reservation counter, the online booking will cost more money as payment gateway charges. Besides, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has limited the tickets to just six from a user and 12 from a user ID linked to Aadhaar, per month. Moreover, the regular passengers have been denied season tickets, which aided cost-effective and hassle-free travel, in special trains.
“Travelling by train has become difficult. Besides the rising cost of travel, the daily ticket reservation has become a major hassle,” said Liyons S, secretary of Friends on Rails, a rail passenger organisation. “What is the need to keep fully reserved trains when the state has lifted the restrictions and even KSRTC operates several inter-city services?”
The passengers’ associations dismissed the Railways’ explanation that fully-reserved trains were meant for contact tracing. “We have approached the Railways asking that we be provided season tickets for a week. The details of passengers will be there for contact tracing,” said Liyons. According to him, several passengers had turned to private vehicles though they are highly expensive. The season ticket for travelling between Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam will cost `300 a month. But in its absence, the passenger has to shell out `100 for a reserved ticket from the counter for a day’s trip.
The railways had taken a cautious approach to keep its operations up and running during the pandemic. “The decision regarding the operation of normal trains has to come from the railway board. At this point, it has been decided to continue the special trains till December-end,” said an officer.