PATNA: The railway ministry recently curtailed the number of berths in most of the Bihar-bound mail and express trains being released to passengers under the VVIP reservation quota known as `emergency quota’ (EQ) in railway parlance.
The railway ministry has reduced the number of EQ berths in sleeper class only in about 11 important mail and express trains originating from New Delhi to Bihar. The curtailment in the EQ berths has been made against the Railway Board quota only.
A Board official said that the number of EQ berths, particularly in the New Delhi-Patna Sampoorna Kranti Express (2394), has been reduced to 24 from 60. The EQ berths have been reduced to 30 from 52 in the New Delhi-Darbhanga Sampark Kranti Express while Rajgir-bound Shraramjeevi Express too faced drastic cut in the sleeper class quota which has been now reduced to 24 from 40 berths, he said.
Similarly, the EQ berths have been reduced to 24 from 42 in the second class in the New Delhi-Barauni Express while the number of EQ berths in Bhagalpur-bound Vikramshila Express have been slashed to 24 from 40. The EQ berths in the Gorakhdham Express have too been reduced to 24 from 30 at the instance of the railway ministry, said the Board official.
According to East Central Railway (ECR) CPRO Dilip Kumar, the ECR has already limited EQ berths in most of the mail and express trains originating from different major stations falling under its five divisions. The objective behind curtailing number of EQ berths from Board quota is to ensure availability of maximum number of berths to common passengers in sleeper class, he said.
According to an ECR official, the East Central Railway (ECR) has been dispensing with EQ berths in upper class (AC) while sleeper class berths are being released by respective divisional offices to facilitate the needy and the sick to avail facilities of EQ berths in emergency. The demand for EQ berths in mail and express trains is quite high for places like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Secunderabad, Cochin, Thiruvananthapuram and Jammu Tavi during peak period from Patna Junction. Release of these berths is purely on the discretion of commercial officials concerned, he said.
According to sources, the Danapur division has been releasing about 300 to 350 sleeper class berths per day in each mail and express train originating from Patna Junction, Danapur and Rajendra Nagar Terminal stations. Similarly, the ECR has been releasing about 500 to 600 berths in AC class daily in different passenger trains originating from all major stations under ECR, sources said.