IRCTC Halts Tejas Express as Passenger Occupancy Drops Drastically

IRCTC decided to cancel all departures of the Tejas trains due to low occupancy levels as a result of COVID-19.

File image of Tejas Express.

(Photo: BloombergQuint)

Barely a month after resuming operations, Tejas Express has been stopped by The Indian Railway Catering And Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) from Monday, 23 November. The IRCTC has decided to end the operations of the Lucknow-Delhi and Mumbai-Ahmedabad Tejas Express due to a shortage of the passengers.

The country’s first private train, Tejas Express, had resumed services in October due to the festive rush after its operation was suspended because of coronavirus in March 2020.

The Lucknow-New Delhi Tejas Express has been cancelled from 23 November, while the Ahmedabad- Mumbai Tejas Express will be cancelled from Tuesday, 24 November. The IRCTC in a statement reportedly said:

“The management has decided to cancel all departures of the IRCTC Tejas trains due to low occupancy levels resulting from COVID-19 pandemic. The company will review its decision after seeing the occupancy level of other trains of the Indian Railways operating in both these routes.”

IANS reported that the occupancy of Tejas Express was around 25 to 40 percent after services resumed in October. This was much lower than its 50-80 percent occupancy before the lockdown.

(With inputs from IANS)