Sankranti Rush Packs Trains, Buses Out Of Hyderabad; Return Trips Thin

Hyderabad: While outbound trains and buses were crammed to capacity, those returning to the city at railway stations and bus depots had low occupancy, indicating the trend of travel that occurs during the initial part of the Sankranti festival, and Dasara later in the year.

The situation is reversed in the later part of the holiday week, with trains and buses reaching the city bursting at the seams.

The same situation is being witnessed on the highways leaving the city to other Telangana districts as well as Andhra Pradesh and other states.

While 2.5 lakh passengers travel out of the city on normal days, the Sankranti holiday season, starting January 10, saw an additional 80,000 passengers. South Central Railway has been operating about 40 additional festival special trains daily towards Andhra Pradesh, in addition to the regular 200 trains.

On their return, the reserved coaches were seeing about 60 per cent occupancy. In all, SCR will operate 320 specials between January 7 and January 18.

There is heavy demand for TGRTC buses from Hyderabad, particularly to destinations such as Kodad, Suryapet, Nalgonda, Miryalaguda, Devarakonda, Mahbubnagar, Achampet and Narayanpet. Services are also in high demand to Vijayawada, Guntur, Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, Kakinada and Eluru in AP.

Sudha Parimala, RTC Hyderabad regional manager, said the imbalance is a recurring issue during major festivals such as Sankranti and Dasara. “Buses are fully booked while leaving the city, but occupancy on return journeys often drops below 50 per cent. In some cases, revenue does not even cover diesel costs,” she said.

She added that to offset losses, RTC has been charging 1.5 times the normal fare on special services for several years. For the current Sankranti season, TGSRTC is operating 1,145 special buses from Hyderabad starting January 13, with special return services scheduled between January 16 and 18.