Bhubaneswar: East Coast Railway (ECoR) has registered an 18 per cent increase in passenger earnings to Rs 1,079.30 crore during the first six months of the 2026-27 financial year, driven by growing patronage of premium train services, introduction of new trains and enhanced services on popular routes, official sources said Wednesday.
Passenger earnings stood at Rs 914.62 crore during the cor responding period of the previous financial year, reflecting an increase of Rs 164.68 crore up to September 2026.
The growth in earnings significantly outpaced the rise in passenger bookings, indicating an increase in average earnings per passenger.
The average earnings per passenger rose from approximately Rs 240 to Rs 278, registering a growth of around 16 per cent.
ECoR attributed the improved performance to greater patronage of AC and premium train services, including Vande Bharat and Amrit Bharat trains, besides the introduction of new services, extension of existing trains and augmentation of coaches on busy routes.
Special trains operated during festive and holiday seasons also helped meet additional passenger demand.
Steady patronage on tourism and pilgrimage routes, along with the wider use of digital ticketing facilities, further contributed to the growth in passenger earnings.
All divisions of ECoR record ed an increase in passenger earnings during the period. Khurda Road Division topped the divisions with earnings of Rs 744.96 crore, registering a growth of 18.68 per cent over the corresponding period of the previous year.
Sambalpur Division earned Rs 133.76 crore, marking an in crease of 12.78 per cent, while Rayagada Division recorded earnings of Rs 53.10 crore, reg istering the highest growth rate of 24.41 per cent among the three divisions.
The consolidated fi gures also include the performance of the erstwhile Waltair Division for April and May 2026.
Passenger bookings across ECoR stood at 38.77 million up to September 2026, compared with 38.10 million during the corresponding period last year, registering a growth of 1.76 per cent.
The railway zone also intensified its drive against ticketless and irregular travel to improve revenue realisation.
Upto September 30, 2026, it detected 5.15 lakh cases of ticketless and irregular travel and realised Rs 36.21 crore through ticket-checking activities.
Earnings from ticket checking increased by 27.28 per cent compared with the correspond ing period of the previous year, reflecting the impact of focused enforcement drives.