Jamshedpur, May 20: In view of the growing cases of Covid-19 and loss of revenue due to poor occupancy South Eastern Railway ( SER) Kolkata based headquarters on Thursday evening notified cancellation of both the Up and Dn 02823/ 02824 Bhubaneswar – New Delhi Special train between May 21 and June 1. The train runs via Tatanagar railway station.
Railway sources said that the footfall of passengers in various railway stations under the jurisdiction of South Eastern Railway including Tatanagar, Ranchi , Hatia ,Chakradharpur and Rourkela have witnessed a considerable fall during the past one week following a spurt in Covid-19 cases.
” We have decided to cancel trains due to a fall in seat occupancy. Covid cases are on the rise and therefore people have restricted their travel plans, ” said an official . He said Eastern Railway and other railway zones have also started cancellation of special trains owing to poor occupancy and operational related problems.
Meanwhile SER has been continuously running Oxygen Express trains since April 23 to bring relief to the Covid-19 affected patients. On Wednesday ( May 19) SER achieved the highest despatch of more than 770 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) from its jurisdiction.
Altogether, nine Oxygen Express trains originated from Bokaro Steel City, Rourkela and Tatanagar yesterday carrying 770.81 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen to various states.
Records suggest that from April 23, SER has so far run 96 Oxygen Express trains despatching a total 6,317 tonnes of LMO to 10 states and Union Territories.
These Oxygen Express trains were run to fulfill requirements of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi.
” This has been made possible due to the untiring efforts of railway employees who have been working round the clock to ensure fastest transportation of Oxygen Express trains, ” an official of South Eastern Railway.