BENGALURU: The conversion of eight passenger trains into express trains with premium fare without improving speed has not gone down well with rail users in the state.
On June 1, South Western Railway (SWR) converted eight passenger special trains into unreserved express ones. The new unreserved express trains are: 16213/16214 Arsikere-Hubballi-Arsikere, 16239/16240 Chikkamagaluru- Yeshwantpur-Chikkamagaluru, 16567/16568 Tumakuru-Shivamogga Town-Tumakuru, and 16549/16550 KSR Bengaluru-Kolar-KSR Bengaluru.
SWR has converted 20 passenger trains into express trains with premium fare since April 2021.
According to passengers, SWR has almost doubled fares on many long-distance routes. However, railway officials maintained that the ‘unofficial’ fare revision is a policy decision by the railway board.
Ramesh Babu V, a regular passenger on the Bengaluru-Chikkaballapur route, said: “From Demu passenger to express, only the name changed. It is not passenger-friendly. The fare of 16549/16550 KSR Bengaluru-Kolar-KSR Bengaluru has almost doubled. For instance, Chintamani to KSR Bengaluru City was Rs 25, but now it is Rs 50. Similarly, Srinivaspur to KSR Bengaluru City was Rs 30 and now is Rs 60. SWR should roll back the fare revision.” He added that daily-wage workers coming to the city from places such as Kolar and Chikkaballapur are the worst affected.
Hubballi-Dharwad Infra (@Hubballi_Infra), a group which tracks development, wrote on Twitter: “Passenger trains converted to unreserved express trains with no change in timings. Now passengers will be forced to pay express fare for a slow train.”
Sources said the railways has decided not to run passenger trains beyond 200km. Trains running beyond 200km will be operated at express fares. Some passengers said SWR had earlier renamed passenger trains like 16207 Yeshwantpur-Hassan-Mysuru, 16211 Yeshwantpur-Salem- Yeshwantpur into express trains but there was no increase in speed.
SWR chief PRO Aneesh Hegde said, “So far, 10 pairs of passenger trains have been converted to express ones. This is a policy decision by the railway board. This has resulted in an increase in speed and reduction of running time (time varies in minutes from train to train and based on route).”
Sudheendra G, a passenger, said, “We don’t know the logic behind the rise in fare of KSR Bengaluru-Kolar-KSR Bengaluru. Under the express tag, fare has been hiked but the train is always delayed.”
Amruth Gowda, a rail user, tweeted, “Kolar to KSR City: 24 stops, 149km, 3 hours 30 minutes…Same speed, same timings, same stations, same train. Demu converted to Demu express (sic).”
