The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC), which provides railway ticketing services, has denied the Congress’ claims that thousands of Indians cancelled their tickets following the triple train accident in Odisha.
“This is factually incorrect. Cancellations have not increased. On the contrary, cancellations have reduced from 7.7 Lakh on 01.06.23 to 7.5 Lakh on 03.06.23,” IRCTC tweeted Tuesday. The restoration work at the accident site for the regular movement of trains has now been completed.
Congress leader and former union minister Bhakta Charan Das at a press conference on Monday claimed thousands of people had cancelled their tickets after the accident as they were not feeling safe to travel. “Such a train accident has never happened in the past. Hundreds of people lost their lives and more than a thousand people were injured. This incident has hurt everyone. Thousands of people have cancelled their tickets after the accident. They feel that travelling in the train is not safe.”
The unfortunate train accident in Odisha’s Balasore on Friday left at least 275 dead and over 1,000 injured. The accident involved Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Coromandel Express and the goods train on three separate tracks at Bahanaga Bazar Station in the Balasore district. As many as 17 coaches of these two passenger trains were derailed and severely damaged in the deadly accident.