Special trains trailing behind regular mail and express trains and, often, parked outside railway stations during festival seasons and summer holidays are not uncommon.
Hundreds of special trains are introduced on busy routes to ease the rush of passengers and clear the traffic but ironically these trains add to the rush by being delayed by many hours.
Harrowing experience
Often, the special trains introduced during summer holidays, Puja, Deepavali, and Sabarimala pilgrimage season give harrowing experience to commuters.
Forced inclusion to appease people, second preference given to special trains, over-utilisation of coaches, and shortage of staff have been cited as reasons for the delays.
Last-minute announcement and lack of adequate information about the services also keep the people in the dark about the availability of these services.
As a result, divisional authorities are forced to run these trains without proper planning and accommodate the excess trains in the schedule.
Even in the case of giving signal, a regular mail, express or passenger train gets the preference to pass through. Thus, the special train will have to wait for its turn, stay behind these trains, which leads to significant delay in the journey.
Staff shortage
Railways need more guards, travelling ticket examiners, and other staff to run the extra coaches. Shortage of staff significantly contributes to the delay of the special trains.
It has been pointed out that railways are bothered about the time schedule of the regular trains that run throughout the year. Not much importance is given to the special trains and the grievances raised by the commuters.
A top official, agreeing to the reasons for the delay, told The Hindu that the constraints faced by railways like saturated lines, sectional speed, and managing the rake and train crew should not be ignored.
Festival season
RailYatri.in, train travel content creator, has already announced that over 95 per cent of the special trains will be delayed this festival season.
A survey found that 90 per cent of the commuters are not aware that these trains are often delayed, says Manish Rathi, co-founder and CEO, RailYatri.in.
