Hyderabad: Passengers are irked by trains that are running hours behind schedule causing commuters to miss important appointments. The alternative mode of transportation, buses, which are comparatively cheaper, are running faster.
Trains called Superfast Express, which charge more, don’t seem to be anything of the kind, complain passengers. On an average, 452 trains ran late in January, 2019.
Buses are reaching faster than express trains. Says city resident G. Shankar Narayan, “My wife was travelling from Bengaluru to Secunderabad and the Duronto Express which was supposed to depart at 11.30 pm at night from Bengaluru departed only at 1.30 am and reached at around 12.02 pm in the afternoon while it is scheduled to arrive at 8.55 am in the morning. We paid around Rs 1,700 for that ticket, and a person who travelled in a Volvo bus for Rs 1,000 travelled faster.”
At least there is a full refund in case passengers who have to wait for more than three hours to board the train. But passengers who are already in the train cannot claim a refund no matter how long the train is delayed, according to railway officials.
From April, 2018 to January, 2019, around 2,643 super fast trains and 4,220 mail and express trains were delayed for various reasons.
The railways claim the reason is the large number of track maintenance works and infrastructural works that are being undertaken on several routes of the Indian Railways leading to excessive speed restrictions, resulting in delays.
General manager, South Central Railway, Gajanan Mallya, speaking at a technical conference held in the city, had confessed that though trains are named superfast and charge higher fares, the railways is not able to provide matching services. The reason was lack of efficient tracks, which prevents super fast trains from attaining the required speed, and maintenance works on tracks.
