There has been a significant increase in patronage of special trains that have commenced inter-State services in a staggered manner.
As many as 103 special train services have been notified for operation in Southern Railway. Of these, 76 are being operated as COVID special trains and 27 as festival specials to meet the demand during the upcoming festival season.
In October, the COVID specials had 74% occupancy benefiting 19.56 lakh passengers.
The occupancy rate in festival specials is gradually picking up and the average occupancy is 57%. Over 1.10 lakh passengers booked seats for travel till October.
The number of trains running with 100% occupancy is also on the rise, according to Railways.
Destinations
Intra-zonal special trains are operated to destinations such as Tiruchchirappalli, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Nagercoil, Kanyakumari and also connecting Coimbatore, Palakkad, Mangaluru and Thiruvananthapuram from Chennai. Besides festival special trains are operated from Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore, Madurai, Tiruchchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Coimbatore, Rameswaram, Thiruvananthapuram Central, Ernakulam Junction and Kanyakumari to key destinations such as Bengaluru, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Howrah, Gaya, Bhubaneswar, Bikaner and Gorakhpur.
Southern Railway has taken several steps to ensure safe travel adhering to the safety protocols laid down by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
