Title - Overcrowding a major problem in Danapur Railway Division

PATNA: The Danapur division of East Central Railway (ECR) runs about 12 to 14 pairs of local trains to cater to the needs of passengers. However, passengers face numerous problems while travelling. Overcrowding is a major problem in these trains. The most crowded section is the Patna-Gaya (PG) route of the Danapur division. The railways have been running several pairs of MEMUs on this route from morning to evening to facilitate office goers, businessmen and others. The occupancy rate on this route has been enormously high causing a lot of rush in all bogies.

In some of the local trains running on the Patna-Gaya route, the rush of passengers is so much that they risk their lives by travelling on the footboards or rooftops. A local train (63244) on the PG route has a capacity of about 698 seats but the number of passengers travelling by this train is about 1200 to 1300. The condition in some other trains (63247-63288) is more or less the same. Passengers travel with great difficulty because of the overcrowded bogies. The commuter trains running between Patna and Buxar are also packed with no room for passengers.

B N Sahay, General Secretary, Bihar Daily Passengers Association, told “Commuters continue to be the most harassed lot in the division. Unfortunately, none of the local trains are running on time. Accidental deaths are being reported from different places in the division. Passengers fall down from running trains due to the overcrowded bogies.” Railways should either introduce more local trains or increase the number of bogies to accommodate more passengers, he said.

Despite frantic efforts, Danapur DRM NK Gupta could not be contacted for his comments on the problem. A railway official of the division, however, said the railway officials would look into the problems being faced by the passengers daily.