Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Few takers for Jan Shatabdi Expresses

By S.Vydhianathan

CHENNAI Dec. 8. The Railways may to have rethink the concept of Jan Shatabdi Express going by the passenger responses to the expresses between Chennai Egmore and Vijayawada and Ernakulam and Trivandrum.

Even on holidays, the occupancy rate is less 60 per cent and on weekdays it is worse, ranging between 40 and 50 per cent.

Due to the poor response, the Southern Railway has extended the time limit for reservation, allowing booking at special counters till 15 minutes before departure.

Only during the last 30 minutes most tickets are sold, say Southern Railway sources. (Normally, reservation for express/mail closes two hours before departure.)

It is surprising to note that the services enjoy poor patronage, as they were introduced only after a survey recommended them. What is perplexing, according to them, is that while the Pinakani Express between Chennai Central and Vijayawada was popular, the Jan Shatabdi Express was not. One reason could be that the service is operated from Egmore.

A few passengers said the service would have been popular had it been operated from Central, as more people from Andhra were living in North Chennai.

There were expectations that the Ernakulam-Trivandrum Jan Shatabdi Express would have good response, as the service linked the commercial centre with the State capital of Kerala, but they were belied. Perhaps, introduction of an inter-city express, instead of Jan Shatabdi, would have been a better proposal, feel railway officials.

Citing the case of the Coimbatore - Chennai Central Inter-city Express, they said the service was not popular as long as it was operated as a Shatabdi Express, whose fare was higher. Once it was converted into an inter-city express, it started attracting passengers and now it is running to full complement.

The Chennai Central - Mysore Shatabdi Express too has good patronage, but only between Chennai and Bangalore, while the booking from Chennai to Mysore is not encouraging. Referring to the Minister of State for Railways, A.K.Moorthi's assurance of a Jan Shatabdi Express between Madurai and Chennai, the officials say it would meet the same fate, which other Jan Shatabdi Expresses did.

Instead, winter superfast specials running on the section could be regularised, as their fares were less and passenger capacity more, they added.

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