(a) whether the Railways have proposed to start new trains to link various States in the country in view of the over crowd of passengers for upcoming holi festival;
(b) if so, the details thereof, State/zone-wise; and
(c) whether the Railways have conducted any survey for late running of special trains and festival special trains in the country and if so, the steps taken/ being taken to run special trains on scheduled time?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)
(a) & (b): Yes, Madam. Augmentation of existing trains is being done and special trains are being run during peak seasons, special events, festivals including Holi for clearance of extra rush of passenger traffic keeping in view the pattern of traffic, commercial justification, operational feasibility and availability of resources. Running of special trains on various sectors is a continuous process. Also, in Railway Budget 2014-15, introduction of 138 new train services has been announced out of which, 97 new trains have been implemented as on date.
(c): Railways continuously monitor the punctuality of passenger trains including special trains at the Divisional, Zonal and Board level right from the time they commence their journey till they terminate. The Railways assess the extent of delay and take effective remedial steps, both short and long term, to control the factors which impede the running of trains. However, on some specific occasions due to asset failures, alarm chain pulling, agitations, cattle run over, bad weather and other unforeseen circumstances, punctuality of these trains get affected.