New Delhi. The Vande Bharat train which was started a few days ago in Telangana needs passengers. The situation is that this train is running empty. The Secunderabad-Nagpur Vande Bharat Express which was started on 16 September, is getting only 20 percent seats filled. This Vande Bharat train is the fifth train of Telangana and it is not getting passengers, while the occupancy rate of other Vande Bharat trains is around 90 percent to 100 percent.
When train number 20102 left Secunderabad for Nagpur yesterday, more than 1200 seats were vacant out of the total capacity of 1440 seats. Only ten passengers had booked tickets in the two executive class coaches of the train, while there were a total of 88 seats in them. This situation is a matter of concern for the railways. The purpose of this train was to connect the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra with major industrial centers of Telangana like Ramagundam and Kazipet. It was expected that this train would facilitate trade and travel between these regions, but now its future has become uncertain due to lack of passengers.
In contrast, a large number of passengers are traveling in Vande Bharat trains of Bengaluru, Chennai and Visakhapatnam. The occupancy rate of trains on these routes is close to 100 percent. If the number of passengers on the Secunderabad-Nagpur route does not improve, then railway officials may reduce the number of coaches of this train. Currently, this train has 20 coaches, out of which 18 are chair cars and 2 are executive class coaches. There are plans to reduce the number of coaches to 8, which will reduce the number of seats by more than 500. Now it remains to be seen what steps the railway administration takes to increase the number of passengers on this route.