12 Trains from (ANVR)ANAND VIHAR to (NJP)NEW JALPAIGURI

To further strengthen bilateral relationship, 20 Broad Gauge (BG) locomotives were virtually flagged off to Bangladesh in a handing over ceremony held today at Rail Bhavan New Delhi, by Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways. From the Bangladesh end, Minister of Railway, Md. Nurul Islam Sujan also joined in virtually. The event was attended by Shri A.K.Lahoti, Chairman & CEO, Railway Board, Board Members, senior officials of Railway Board and delegates of Bangladesh.

The handing over of these diesel locomotives, under grant assistance from the Government of India, fulfills an important commitment made during the visit of Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina to India, in October, 2019. In keeping with the requirements of Bangladesh Railway, the locomotives have been suitably modified by the Indian side. These locomotives will help handle the increasing volume of passenger and freight train operations in Bangladesh.

Speaking o­n this occasion, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “India’s relationship with Bangladesh is civilizational, cultural, social and economic. Prime Ministers of both the countries are playing proactive role to improve bilateral relationship across social, economic and political sectors. Indian Railways are also playing a vital role in improving and strengthening rail connectivity across the border and improving trade between both the countries. As of now, five BG connectivity are operational, namely Geda- Darsana, Benapol- Petrapol, Singhabad- Rohanpur, Radhikapur- Birol and Haldibari-Chilahati. Work o­n two more cross border rail connectivities, Akhaura-Agartala and Mahihasan-Shahbazpur are progressing well and are likely to be completed and commissioned shortly.”

Addressing the gathering virtually, Minister of Railway, Bangladesh Mr. Md. Nurul Islam Sujan said, “I express my gratitude to the Indian Government for their support. Previously in June 2020 Indian Government provided 10 locomotives to Bangladesh as grant. We express our heartfelt gratitude to India for providing broad gauge locomotives. The supply of locomotives will help to improve both goods and passenger trains. We hope that existing collaboration between two countries regarding Railways sector will increase day by day.”

To enhance people to people contact, presently three pairs of passenger trains between India and Bangladesh, namely, Kolkata-Dhaka Maitree Express, Kolkata-Khulna Bandhan Express and New Jalpaiguri- Dhaka Mitali Express are running.

Trade between both the countries via rail have seen consistent growth with interchange of close to 100 cargo trains per month and approximately 2.66 MT cargo was sent to Bangladesh in the last financial year. The export commodities are Stone, DOC, Foodgrains, China Clay, Gypsum, Maize, o­nion and other essential items, as and when required, from India. Since 2020 permission has been given to operate parcel container and NMG rakes which normally carry agricultural products, fabrics, finished goods, light commercial vehicles and tractors. A new traffic of geo-synthetic bags has just started and 3 Parcel trains have been sent from Gujarat.

In line with Indian commitment to improve Rail service in Bangladesh, 10 BG Diesel locomotives were handed over to Bangladesh o­n grant basis in July 2020. As reported by Bangladesh, these locomotives are performing well and contributing well in smooth movement rail traffic in Bangladesh.

Total 380 Special Trains are making 6369 Trips with over 80 thousand coaches

Indian Railways is running 1770 more trips this year as compared to total summer special trains (4599 trips by 348 trains) run in 2022

During this summer season this year, for the convenience of railway travelers and to clear extra rush of passengers, Indian Railways is running 6369 trips of 380 special trains. Indian Railways is running 1770 morr trips this year as compared to total summer special trains (4599 trips by 348 trains) run in 2022. While an average 13.2 trips per train was run in last summer, 16.8 trips per special train are being made in the current year. The major destinations connected are Patna-Secunderabad, Patna-Yesvantpur, Barauni-Muzaffarpur, Delhi-Patna, New Delhi-Katra, Chandigarh-Gorakhpur, Anand Vihar- Patna, Visakhapatnam-Puri-Howrah, Mumbai-Patna, Mumbai-Gorakhpur.

In totality, these 380 special trains making 6369 trips have 25794 General Coaches and 55243 Sleeper Coaches. General Coaches have a capacity of 100 passenger whereas Sleeper Coaches have a capacity of 72 passengers in ICF and 78 in LHB.

In order to cater the summer rush, all the zonal Railways spread across the country have geared up to run special trips. Through these special trains, connectivity from various states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi is being ensured. South Western Railway catering to majorly Karnataka region is running maximum trips 1790 this summer season in comparison to 779 trips last year whereas Western Railway catering majorly to the state of Gujarat has also geared up to run 1470 trips in comparison to 438 trips last year. It is also pertinent to mention that this year, South Central Railway is running 784 trips which is 80 trips more than the last year. To deal with the heavy rush in northern part of the country, North Western Railway is running 400 trips, East Central Railway is running 380 trips. Northern Railway has also planned to run 324 trips this year.

However, neither the number of trains nor the number of trips run by specific special train(s) is static for the entire season. Planning and running of special trains is a continuous process for which inputs are taken from all the communication channels 24x 7 like media reports, Social media platforms, Railway Integrated helpline number 139, apart from details of waitlist passengers in PRS system to assess demand of trains o­n a particular route. Based o­n this requirement, number of trains and number of trips are augmented.

A watch o­n any malpractices – like cornering of seats, over-charging and touting activity etc. is being kept by the team of commercial and RPF Staff.