2 years on, Railways passenger bookings still far from pre-Covid levels

In 2021-22, up to February, the national transporter received 3,204 million bookings at an average of 291 million

Hit by Covid waves and slowdown, the Indian Railways has still not been able to return to its pre-pandemic passenger traffic, data by Ministry of Railways has revealed.

In February, the national transporter received 413 million ticket bookings — 43 per cent higher than the previous year, but only 61 per cent of the 675 million in February 2020. According to the statistics, that was the last time the Railways saw more than 500 million bookings in a single month.

In the 2019-20 financial year, Railways received 8,109 million bookings, including suburban and non-suburban segments, which roughly average at 675 million bookings