Railways may cancel short-distance trains to cut losses after lockdown

Palakkad: Railways is unlikely to resume short-distance passenger services when trains start plying after the lockdown is lifted. The time slots of many passenger trains would be given to goods trains.

During the lockdown, all trains, except those carrying goods, stopped services. The Railways conducted a study during this period which recommended that goods trains should be given more importance in future.

The study pointed out that most people depended on buses for short distance travel and aircraft for long distance trips. Based on this finding, Railways is planning to cancel many passenger trains conducting services between nearby places such as Thrissur-Guruvayur and Kayamkulam-Ernakulam, which are running in a huge loss. In addition, services of trains connecting places that are very distant would also be discouraged.

In the future, Railways would focus on inter-city services which cover the distance in one day or overnight. When there is big demand, special fare 'suvidha' trains would be scheduled.

A major advantage of reducing the services of passenger trains for the Railways is that its losses too would come down. Consequently, the fare for transporting goods could be slashed, says the report. Food and other essential items and medicines can be transported exclusively by trains from now on, which would not only prove economical but also earn profits for the Railways.