Poor patronage for the Salem-Namakkal-Karur Special Passenger Trains

Acceding to the demands of the travelling public in the Salem-Namakkal-Karur section, the following special passenger trains are being operated on Sundays and on daily basis:

T.No.06739-Sundays-Salem-Karur-Dep.06.00 hrs-Arr.08.10 hrs.

T.No.06740-Sundays-Karur-Salem-Dep.08.30 hrs-Arr.10.30 hrs.

T.No.06743-Daily-Salem-Karur-Dep.11.30 hrs-Arr.13.30 hrs.

T.No.06744-Daily-Karur-Salem -Dep.14.40 hrs-Arr.16.40 hrs.

However, it has been observed that the patronage for the above special trains are found to be very poor and the average occupancy is between 13 to 21% only. This can be seen below:

Train No.	Salem-Karur Passenger Specials				Karur Salem Passenger specials
	06743 (Daily)		06739 (Sunday)		06744 (Daily)		06740 (Sunday)
Month	No of Pass	Earnings	No of Pass	Earnings	No of Pass	Earnings	No of Pass	Earnings
Jan- 17	3834	72305	567	10775	3920	75975	362	12250
Feb- 17	3153	59710	515	9750	3200	61145	310	10085
Mar - 17	3400	64250	505	10252	3575	68800	345	11120
Total	10387	196265	1587	30777	10695	205920	1017	33455
Avg. Per day	115	2181	122	2367	119	2288	78	2573
Utilization % of  580 seats	20%		21%		20%		13%

 (Rake consist is 6 GS and 1 SLRD)

The passenger specials may be continued as passenger amenity only if there is sufficient demand and patronage. Withdrawing these specials would mean that there will be no service on Sundays and on weekdays during the above timings, and only the two pairs of regular passenger trains will be run in morning and evening and there will be no service  in the afternoon. Though these special trains are in operation since 16.09.2015, the patronage for these trains on overage, is found to be very less.

Hence, the Salem Division administration requests the passengers to make use of the above special trains and assist Railways in continued operation of these trains. In case of continued poor patronage, Railways will have no other option but to withdraw the above special train services.