Trichy: Trichy railway division has registered an increase of 24% in unreserved passenger traffic earnings for a period of one week during Diwali this year compared to last year’s festive season. The railway division has achieved this height despite the non-operation of any special trains in view of the festival, in Trichy region.Exorbitant hike in bus fare is the main reason for the upswing in the unreserved passenger earnings, activists say. Tamil Nadu government announced a hike in bus fare earlier this year in January. This hike immediately reflected across the state, as the number of passengers who opted for trains considerably went up.Both local and long-distance trains, after the fare hikes were operated with full capacity from Trichy as well as via Trichy. At its peak, the division has attained 24% increase in during this festive season, officials said. Being an agrarian region, thousands of people residing around Trichy-Villupuram mainline, preferred only train travel considering the exorbitant bus fare. So, they were the major contributors in the Rs 2.75 crore passenger earnings against Rs 2.21 crore during the last festive period. If they had operated passenger specials during Diwali, the earnings could have gone up to 50 per cent”, K Paramasivam, a regular commuter said.Since the Trichy –Villupuram main line is the passenger predominant one, the Trichy division achieved this level, a member of DRUCC and the vice president of Thanjavur District Rail Users Association, A Giri said.“The railway had neither announced any special train nor augmented any extra coaches for unreserved passengers. So, this has shown that a number of passengers had travelled with more constraints”, he added. The railway authorities should at least plan for the forthcoming Pongal festival, which is usually celebrated for four days, and should operate the required number of special trains, particularly via the main line, he opined.

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