PTI
Mumbai, Nov 2: The Western Railway (WR) has rejected reports that 40 per cent seats on trains in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route go vacant and said that occupancy was above 100 per cent.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal also tweeted, “Contrary to media reports, Mumbai-Ahmedabad route has above 100% occupancy and will benefit immensely from bullet train (sic).”
The WR said that reports regarding 40 per cent seats being vacant in trains running between Mumbai and Ahmedabad and that WR had incurred losses of Rs 30 crore in the sector in the last three months were incorrect, as there was over 100 per cent occupancy. Goyal also posted the WR statement on Twitter.
WR’s Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Ravinder Bhakar said, “The Western Railway’s earnings during the said three months from this sector were Rs 233 crore.”
Right to Information (RTI) activist Anil Galgali had claimed to have found that there was a difference of Rs 29 crore in the WR’s actual earnings and earning potential, as trains on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad section had 40 per cent vacant seats.
Galgali had also raised concern about the bullet train project, saying it was “not viable”. The activist had claimed that WR’s Chief Commercial Manager Manjeet Singh provided him the information for the period between July 1 and September 30, 2017.
Bhakar said the reply to the RTI query was to a specific question regarding the number of passengers travelling from Mumbai Central to Ahmedabad and from Ahmedabad to Mumbai Central. He added that the reply did not include information about en route traffic — the number of passengers travelling from the originating station to intermediate stations, intermediate to intermediate stations and intermediate stations to final destination.
“Even though July to September 2017 was lean season, the occupancy was above 100 per cent and the figure for October 2016 to September 2017 for 34 trains was 124.72 per cent,” the CPRO said. Rail activist Rajiv Singal also said, “I am a frequent traveller on this route and I have always found wait-listed tickets on these trains.”
The Mumbai–Ahmedabad section is one of the busiest routes.
