Rly earnings jump 16 pc despite losing passengers

Railways may have lost 46 million passengers between April and October this year, but it has managed to register 16 per cent more earnings than last year.

 “The total approximate numbers of passengers booked during 1st April 2014 – 31st October 2014 were 4918.57 million compared to 4965.00 million during the same period last year, showing a decrease of 0.94 per cent,” data from the Railways revealed.

While the decrease in passengers was 2.41 per cent in the non-suburban sector, the suburban sector has seen an increase of 0.34 per cent.  In pure terms, the number of passengers booked between April and October 2014 was 2664.95 million in the suburban sector and 2253.62 million in the non-suburban sector, which stood at 2655.67 million and 2309.33 million respectively last year.

“The total approximate revenue earnings from passengers during 1st April 2014 – 31st October 2014 were Rs 24, 716.97 crore compared to  Rs 21, 247.64 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of 16.33 percent,” the government data said.

The railways seemed to be losing passengers to almost every mode of transportation, including airlines.  This corroborates with the latest statistics from Directorate General of Civil Aviation, which showed that the domestic sector carried 7.55 per cent more passengers.