Post COVID, even SER stopped some intra-bengal trains like Adra RajyaRani, PRR Laalmaati or some trains between KGP - JGM - PRR like Olchiki Express, Birsa Munda Express etc.
No other Railway Zone / State has seen such a drastic reduction in train services post-COVID like ER and Bengal. This is a deliberate attempt to burden passengers to/from Bengal or even those traveling within Bengal. All other states/zones have seen new trains mushrooming up pre and post COVID, with almost all trains restored (even Bandra NZM Yuva is still running till this...
more... day, but HWH ANVT Yuva is lying idle at the Vande Bharat maintenance yard of HWH).
Because of this, trains from Bengal to rest of India are fully occupied with huge WLs, and moreover from the stations in between the journey passengers illegally enter into reserved coaches and make them into General/local train like situation (one/two states in particular, no prizes for guessing which). Even in terms of new premium trains like Vande Bharat or others, HWH/Bengal received too few services compared to other states despite high occupancy (ZERO Tejas trains, ZERO Double Decker/UDAY trains - let's not forget). Bengal got one or two trains only prior to some election season (for vote purpose only), and then everyone forgets this state with 4 Railway Zones (considering Kolkata Metro too).
So many VBs were discussed - HWH BSB VB, HWH BGP VB, so many demands came in newspapers from all over the country - be it reintroduction of train services from SGNR/Bathinda to HWH, or overnight superfast service between GHY and HWH/KOAA, long demanded Naharlagun service among many others..., and why just Kolkata - other places across Bengal whether under ER, NFR or SER... critical train connections from places like NJP, Balurghat, Maldah, Rampurhat, Asansol-Durgapur, Purulia, Bankura, KGP, Haldia... to other destinations across the country (Haldia Chennai Sangrami Express also hasn't made a comeback yet, did we forget?). None of the demands or promises or proposals have been fulfilled.
And people may have long forgotten... entire Uttar Dinajpur district lost its only interstate long-distance express connectivity after Seemanchal became LHB, leading to termination of RDP - Delhi Slip Service... have any new services been introduced in lieu of that? Even at least a weekly service? Nothing!
Not to forget, entire Kolkata suburban local EMU network has seen ZERO upgradation or new trains in last several years together... even though ridership increases every year with increase in population and demand, no new service or new routes. That one Nasipur Bridge has been completed ages ago, they're still not done completing trial runs, let alone introduction of any new services. Districts like Nadia, Berhampore/Murshidabad along with Birbhum, Malda, both Dinajpurs, Purulia, Jhargram, Bankura continue to suffer even to this day.
Understand Railways' bias against Bengal with a simple example:
When TATA/DHN - Alleppey Express became LHB, Railways eliminated slip services and introduced two SEPARATE DAILY trains 18189/90 and 13351/52. (Railways still could not introduce a long pending demand of a daily Bengal - Kerala train, given so many lakhs of Bengalees working in Kerala and travelling to Kerala everyday, but NO... TWO DAILY TRAINS from JHARKHAND was of paramount importance!)... anyways... But when it came to HWH - JU/BKN Express, instead of daily service JU bound service got reduced to 4 days and BKN bound service got reduced to 3 days. Why this discrimination? Let's see what they do to the overnight Chakradharpur/Bokaro Slip train service, used by daily passengers. For starters, they have already made it difficult for most passengers to board/deboard the train in the middle of the night by truncating the origin/terminating station to SRC. Pathetic!
Then they wonder why they got reduced from 18 seats to 12 seats in Lok Sabha... this is not in support of any other party, but a direct reflection of As You Sow, So You Reap... Jemon Kormo, Temni Phol...
Let's also see what more apathy they have in store left for Bengal passengers when two more very popular trains (one from ER, other from SER) with slip coaches are converted to LHB - 12311/12 Netaji Exp (Kalka Mail) and 18047/48 Amravati Exp...
please wait...Translate to EnglishAfter COVID hit, SER stopped some trains in Bengal like Adra RajyaRani, PRR Laalmaati, and others between KGP - JGM - PRR like Olchiki Express, Birsa Munda Express, and stuff. No other place in India saw such a big drop in train services like ER and Bengal. It's like they tryna make it tough for passengers in Bengal, man. All the other states have more trains post-COVID, but here it's like, nada. Trains from Bengal to other places in India are packed, with peeps even sneaking into reserved coaches making it like a local train situation. And we also got fewer premium trains like Vande Bharat compared to others, a real shame. Many demands for new trains and services in Bengal have been ignored. It's messed up, yo. No upgrades in Kolkata's local trains either, despite more peeps using them. They need to step up their game, for real!