Assam Rail Passengers' Association protest demanding resumption of pre-Covid trains

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Assam Rail Passengers' Association (ARPA) resorted to protest programmes in various railway stations in the state in support of their demand for the resumption of all train services that were running during the pre-Covid period, besides the restoration of several train stops that faced closure in the post-Covid period.

Talking to The Sentinel, ARPA general secretary Dipankar Sharma said, "NF Railway earns good revenue from freight charges from goods trains. However, the local people have lost the chances of availing of many trains to move from one district to another. Several trains that were running before the Covid-19 faced closure in the post-Covid period. Following our demands, a few of the closed train services got resumed but with new names, new schedules and increased fares. We have resorted to staging protests in various railway stations in the state. Our protest will continue for the next four days."

Meanwhile, the ARPA sent their memorandum to the General Manager of NF Railway through the station masters of various railway stations in the state.

The memorandum reads, "With due honour, we would like to inform you that despite several representations made before NFR administration for the restoration of all pre-Covid train stoppages and resumption of the highly patronized three passenger services viz 55818/817 (GHY-RNY-NBQ), 15771/772 (APDJ-RNY-GHY) and 55713/714 (NJP-RNY) depending on which people of lower Assam had to manage their day-to-day activities. Unfortunately, no arrangement has been made yet. Even honourable MOSR RP Danvejee assured us of the full resumption of train services during his last visit to Barpeta in April 2022. You are fully aware that GHY-RNY-NBQ section is a suburban section practically where the highest number of local people used to avail of train services till the imposition of lockdown in March 2020. In the absence of those daily services, commuters are in deep trouble in managing their bread and butter. Utilization of the existing infrastructure to increase freight services only is highly undesirable and disappointing at the same time. However, we are optimistic about the resumption of those services soon along with the restoration of the pre-Covid stoppages."

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