Travellers to Mumbai and Pune, the two Maharashtra cities worst hit by H1N1 virus, are shunning the buses but do not mind taking trains.
Central Railway expressed concern over the spread of influenza but claimed that waiting list for trains to Mumbai and Pune continued to swell. No berth was available in a dozen trains to these cities until August 16.
On the other hand, private bus operators complained their occupancy had dwindled 60% since outbreak of the virus. Of the six deaths in India, three have been reported from Mumbai and Pune. According to Suhas Lohkare, public relations officer (PRO) of Central Railway, all trains to Mumbai and Pune were going full. From August 11 to 16, waiting list for 2114 Garib Rath, 2136 Nagpur-Pune Express, 2130 Howrah-Pune Azad Hind Express, 2849 Bilaspur-Pune Express and 1040 Maharashtra Express was between 10 and 25.
"Although the waiting list appears small, this is also off season. Full occupancy is an indication that people are preferring to travel to Pune and Mumbai by train," Lohkare stressed.
The PRO said trains to Mumbai were witnessing even more rush than Pune. From August 11 to 16, the waiting list for all the three classes in 2140 Nagpur-Mumbai Sewagram Express was between 100 and 150 as on Monday. Interestingly, for August 14, the waiting list is 161 . In others trains including 2860 Gitanjali Express, 2106 Gondia-Mumbai Vidarbha Express, 8030 Howrah-LTT Shalimar Express, 2810 Howrah-Mumbai Mail and 2102 Howrah-LTT Janeshwari Express the waiting list continues to be between 50 and 200 in all classes. On August 16, the wait list of passengers in Vidarbha Express is over 310.
TOI talked to a cross-section of passengers and found many of them unaware of swine flu threat. Some engineering students from Meghalaya returning to Pune were cool about it. "We're taking precautions. Our group has completely given up consumption of meat and we mostly stay indoors since the outbreak of disease," said Eric Sangma from Tura.
Although railway occupancy has not been hit, bus operators are finding it difficult to get passengers towards Pune. Interestingly, traffic is more in reverse direction. Around 20 private buses ferry over 1,000 passengers to Pune and vice-versa. Rana Khurana, one of the leading operators, said with many people in Pune testing positive for flu, flow of passengers from Nagpur had gone down sharply. Many passengers have cancelled or postponed their programmes, said another bus operator.
Khurana said many students were coming back fearing infection. "We are planning to appoint a doctor in Pune to examine passengers coming to Nagpur," he added.
Meanwhile, Nagpur airport was yet to gear up for any eventuality. While international passengers were being screened, passengers returning and travelling to Pune were not being examined as there were no guidelines from the centre to do so.
Travel with masks: Sharma
D K Sharma, divisional railway manager (DRM) of Nagpur Central Railway, has appealed to the passengers to travel with masks as a measure of precaution. Sharma has also urged them to avoid spitting. "If you see any passenger coughing continuously, ask him/her to use an handkerchief or a tissue paper," Sharma appealed. "We are making special announcements on dos and don'ts at the railway station. Besides, posters were also being pasted at various places to spread awareness," Sharma added.
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