Division Railway Manager (DRM), South Western Railway, Mysuru, Rajkumar Lal on Saturday highlighted the performance of the division during the 69th Independence Day celebrations.

Addressing the gathering at the Railway Ground at Yadavgiri here, Lal said the overall earnings of the division in the current year (up to July) is Rs.179.57 crore, up by 3.11 per cent when compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

“The number of passengers carried on originating basis was 170.89 lakh, while the passenger earnings were Rs.79.15 crore (up to July 2015) posting an incremental growth of 11.09 per cent when compared to the previous year. The division has transported 1.265 million tonnes of freight traffic in the first four months of the current fiscal year, against the target of 1.250 million tonnes, accounting for a growth of 1.2 per cent over the target set. The ticket checking earnings of the division touched Rs.1.68 crore from 65,710 cases,” he said.

Besides generating revenue, the division is taking equal initiatives in the interest of passengers  like extension of platforms and shelters, foot overbridges, subway (at Mysuru station) and additional water coolers at important stations among others. Mysuru-Kodagu MP Prathap Simha has allocated Rs 30 lakh from his MP Local Area Development fund to take up some innovative amenities for passengers at the station, he added.

Intensive checks to provide hygienic food items to passengers, escorting of important overnight trains for security of passengers, especially women, punctuality of trains, zero tolerance towards consequential train accidents, completion of the ongoing and sanctioned doubling projects among other facilities are in the focus, Lal said.