Railways to restore services of 50 trains as demand increases

With many states easing lockdown restrictions, the Indian Railways on Thursday announced restoration of services of 50 trains from June 21.

The trains include Duronto, Shatabdi, and Rajdhani, along with long-distance mail and express trains.

At present, the railways is operating around 900 Special Mail Express trains every day on average.

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The railways last month stopped services of some mail and express trains due to poor booking numbers.

However, as restrictions are being eased across India, demand for tickets has also increased. At present, 15 lakh reserved passengers are travelling on the railways, compared to 5 lakh passengers in last month.

Last week, Railway Board chairman Suneet Sharma told media that railways was in touch with states to gradually increase train services. The railways is keen to normalise the services at the earliest, Sharma said. Before the second wave, railways operated 1,500 trains daily.