New Delhi, Apr 16 (IANS): Keeping in view the additional rush at several stations, the Indian Railways has started 140 trains to clear the extra rush which will run till May, officials said on Friday.
Addressing a press conference, Suneet Sharma, CEO and Chairman of the Railway Board said, "A very special day for Indian Railways as you are aware that today the first train ran from VT to Thane, a distance of 34 km on April 16, 1853. Since that day railways have come miles forward."
Sharma said that the railways will run all the required trains.
"We are running 1,490 trains till date. And we are ready to run more trains whichever is required in any part of the country," he said.
He said currently railways is operating 1,490 special trains, 5,397 suburban train services. "We are also running 28 clone trains on highly patronised trains, 947 passenger trains," he said, adding that 70 per cent of the train services have been restored.
"To clear extra rush across the country, the railways is operating 140 additional trains," the Chairman said.
He said that 140 special trains will make 483 trips between April and May.
Citing the figures of the additional trains operating in several states, he said, Central Railway is operating 85 special trains which will complete 284 trips, Western Railway is operating 28 trains for 152 trips, Northern Railway is operating 15 special trains for 19 trips, East Central Railways is operating two special trains for four trips, North Eastern Railway is operating nine trains for 14 trips and North Central Railways is operating one train for 10 trips.
He also said that the trains for destinations having high demand like Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Manduadih, Prayagraj; Bihar's Patna, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Barauni; Jharkhand's Bokaro, Ranchi; Assam's Guwahati; West Bengal's Kolkata are also being operated.
He also gave the figures of the special trains the railways operated in the last five days from Mumbai to several other destinations.
He said that the railways operated 42 trains between April 12 to 16 between Delhi and Mumbai.