The Indian Railways is currently operating over 900 mail and express trains as compared to 1,800 trains which used to run before the Covid-19 pandemic, officials said on Tuesday. Addressing a virtual press conference, Railway Board Chairman and CEO V.K. Yadav said, “As of now railways is operating 908 mail or express trains as compared to 1,800 trains pre-Covid-19 pandemic.” “This is 50 per cent of the total mail or express trains,” he said.
The CEO said 20 Special clone trains are running as of now on the routes with higher demands. Yadav further said that in addition 566 train services were operated as Festival special trains from October 20 to November 30. He also said that 238 services of the Kolkata Metro were started in July, while 843 services of suburban services started in November.
He said that 2,773 Mumbai suburban services were being operated as of now. Highlighting the freight services, the Chairman said the national transporter loaded 109.68 million tonnes in November this year as compared to 100.96 million tonnes in the same period last year. He said that the national transporter got incremental loading of over 8.72 million tonnes in November that led to the railways earning Rs 449.79 crore more as compared to last year. Yadav further said that railways loaded 300 rakes of automobiles as compared to 160 rakes loaded in November last year, thus registering a growth of 87.5 per cent.