New Delhi, Jul 20 (IANS): The two Tejas trains being operated by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) are running under losses.

IRCTC operates two Tejas trains on routes -- New Delhi-Lucknow and Mumbai-Ahmedabad. A Parliament reply by the Ministry of Railways said that these trains are nor making profits during the last two years because of Covid-19 pandemic.

"In view of Covid 19 pandemic both these trains were not operational for a long period and even the frequency of the trains was reduced. Due to this, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) earned less revenue in operation of these two Tejas Train services," said the reply given by the Minister of Railways, Ashwini Mahajan.

While Lucknow- Delhi Tejas train made a profit of Rs 2.33 crore during the year 2019-20 it incurred losses of Rs 16.69 crore and Rs 8.50 crore in the years 2020-21 and 2021-22. Similarly, Mumbai-Ahmedabad Tejas train incurred losses of Rs 2.91 crore, Rs 16.45 crore and Rs 15.97 crore in the years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 respectively.

At present, no proposal for operation of regular passenger trains by private operators, is under consideration.