Nothing special about special trains for Sabarimala season

 

Kochi: The railways has announced as many as 90 special trains during this Sabarimala season. However, there is nothing special about them as the services in these trains may not match even that in  regular ones.

 

The worst affected are the waiting list passengers as there is no means to confirm their tickets or upgrade classes on vacancies.

 

“For the special trains, there are only  one or two Travelling Ticket Examiners  deployed due to severe staff shortage. They  will be in the AC coaches and for the commuters travelling in the remaining bogies,  there is no official to approach for any kind of services. As against 598 sanctioned strength,  there are currently 475 personnel. This makes it difficult for us to deploy more TTEs,” a senior TTE official said.

 

It makes the refund in case of non-travel more difficult as the onus is on commuters to prove their journey in the absence of TTEs verifying the tickets.

 

“Also,  the priority will be for regular trains during crossings and often these trains run behind schedule. The schedule too is tight. Often, little time is left for maintenance and ensuring services like lighting and water facilities before using the coaches for return journey,” the official said.

 

The railways admits the acute staff shortage problem, even as it maintains that a mass recruitment drive is on. But it will take five to six months to select the  staff  and by then the pilgrim season would have ended.