Gandhinagar: With a view to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, Indian Railways had discontinued the operation of all regular passenger-carrying trains with effect from 23rd March 2020 and only special train services were being operated.

270 Mail/Express trains and 258 passenger trains operated by Western Railway, primarily serving the stations located in the State of Gujarat, had been discontinued. Meanwhile, Indian Railways have undertaken rationalization of the time table in a scientific manner with the assistance of IIT-Bombay. The exercise has been undertaken, inter alia, to provide for better passenger safety by creating maintenance corridor blocks, and minimizing conflicts in the existing timetable, which, inter-alia involved the conversion of Passenger services into Mail/Express services.

Since November-2021, Mail/express train services are being operated as per rationalized timetable and regular numbers. At present, 308 Mail/Express trains and 191 passenger trains serving the stations located in the State of Gujarat are operational over the Western Railway system.

This information was provided by Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Railways, Communications, and Electronics & Information Technology, who replied to a question from a Rajya Sabha member during the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament. DeshGujarat