The South Central Railway on Wednesday said it could not arrange a special train from Secunderabad to New Delhi to ferry Congress workers to a November 1 rally against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) because the request came at very short notice. The clarification came after Telangana's ruling Congress staged a protest at the railway headquarters over the non-sanctioning of the service.In a statement, the SCR said running a special train on a long-distance route required comprehensive operational planning, including the availability of a suitable rake, locomotives, crew, maintenance arrangements and other essential resources.
The proposed service would also have required coordination and concurrence among multiple railway zones, along with the preparation and approval of a timetable that would not affect the movement of regular passenger and other trains.The railway maintained that adequate advance notice was necessary to examine the feasibility of such requests and make the required arrangements. It added the inability to arrange the train at short notice was purely due to operational constraints and should not be construed as an unwillingness to cooperate or a denial of assistance.SCR also said it had planned special trains for Diwali and Chhath Puja to accommodate the additional passenger rush during the festive season.
CONGRESS STAGES PROTEST AT RAIL NILAYAMThe Railway's clarification followed a flash protest by Telangana Congress leaders at Rail Nilayam, the headquarters of South Central Railway in Secunderabad, on Wednesday. The party alleged that the Railways had denied its request for special trains to transport party workers to New Delhi for the protest.Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president B Mahesh Kumar Goud, Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, several party MLAs, MPs and other leaders participated in the protest outside the office of the SCR general manager.
The protesters raised slogans, including "hamein chahiye, rail chahiye" and "vote bachao desh bachao", demanding special train arrangements for the journey to the national capital.Congress sources said the leaders decided to stage the protest after receiving no positive response to their request for special trains. The party had sought the service to facilitate the travel of its workers from Telangana to attend the November 1 rally against the revision of electoral rolls.Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had earlier said that 10,000 to 15,000 Telangana Congress workers would travel to Delhi to participate in the rally.SCR ADVISES ORGANISERS TO APPROACH IRCTC IN ADVANCEExplaining the procedure for arranging special trains for group travel, SCR said organisers could approach the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) well in advance for services on a payment basis.Such requests can be examined and coordinated, subject to operational feasibility, the railway said.SCR reiterated its commitment to facilitating the travel requirements of all sections of society, including groups travelling for special events and programmes.
It added that all possible assistance would be extended subject to operational feasibility and safety requirements.The railway's clarification comes amid the Congress's demand for special train arrangements to transport its workers to Delhi for the rally against SIR. While the party protested the non-sanctioning of the service, SCR maintained that the short notice did not leave sufficient time to complete the arrangements required for a long-distance train crossing multiple railway zones.- Ends