One thousand one hundred trains were either cancelled, diverted or “short-terminated” due to the Gurjjar agitation in Rajasthan in the past 17 days. And even as the Ministry of Railways is yet to officially come out with the quantum of losses suffered due to this agitation, preliminary estimates coming from zonal railways suggest that the final figure could be more than Rs 50 crore, including the damage to railway property.

According to Rail Bhavan sources, the railway blockade in Bayana has already led to cancellation of more than 750 trains, around 500 of which were mail or express trains.

“Around 200 trains had to be diverted and more than 150 were short-terminated,” a senior railway official said. Short termination essentially means a train is terminated short of its destination due to extraordinary circumstances.

The Delhi-Mumbai trunk route is the worst-affected owing to the blockade in Rajasthan. And both Western and Northern railways have incurred maximum losses.

While the Northern Railways, whose major earnings come from passenger operations, has already suffered a loss of more than Rs 6.5 crore due to cancellations, Western Railways is incurring losses worth Rs 3 crore per day on both passenger and freight operations.

“Initial estimates suggest that we have lost roughly Rs 1 crore daily on account of passenger ticket refunds and around Rs 2.5 crore per day on freight trains,” a Western Railways source told The Indian Express.

Officials point out that more than the refund of passenger tickets, it is the Railway’s inability to operate freight trains on the Delhi-Mumbai route that has cost them dear.

... contd.