PUNE: The Pune railway division has taken a big step towards providing facilities to passengers this year. The division has increased the sitting capacities at different stations. Besides this, more than 100 special trains have also given a boost to the Railways’ income with Rs 763.47 crore earned till November, which is 3.5 per cent higher than previous year’s Rs 737.88 crore.
The division has recorded 563.89 crore passenger revenue in trains from April to November, which is 3.4 per cent higher than the 545.43 crore recorded in 2017 in the same period.
The goods train also has given a boost in the revenue. The railway division has earned
Rs 188.41 crore from the same period this year, which is 3.5 per cent higher from the previous year’s Rs 182.03 crore. During ticket checking, Rs 11.18 crore revenue was generated, 7.4 per cent higher than Rs 10.41 crore, the previous year. Railway officials nabbed nearly 1.96 lakh passengers travelling without a ticket last year. This year, during the same period, the number went up to 2,27,909 passengers, witnessing a 16 per cent rise. However, the number of passengers travelling by trains has decreased 1.2 per cent, compared to last year.
In 2018, the Railways recorded 523.30 lakh passengers who booked their tickets, compared to 529.51 lakh in 2017 during the same period.
They also started several special trains from Pune to Manduadih, Nizamuddin, Nagpur, Gorakhpur, Mangaluru, Miraj, Santragachi, Jaipur and other stations. Due to these special trains, the passengers were able to reach their destination without a waiting list. Recently, the division also started trolley facilities inside the trains to provide linen and towels.
In this year, several MPs, MLAs and MLCs gave funds to provide better amenities in Pimpri, Chinchwad, Akurdi and other stations. The facilities included toilets for male and female passengers and chairs among others.
Under the Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR), several companies undertook beautification by painting the railway premises and creating awareness among people about cleanliness.
The division is constantly making efforts to ply the passenger trains on time, which has resulted in most trains running successfully on time from April to October this year. The timings, especially of local trains running between Pune and Lonavla have improved considerably.
During this period, around 91 per cent express/mail trains, 90 per cent passenger and 94 per cent local trains recorded punctuality. During the same period last year, the percentage was 89, 88 and 86 respectively. This has been possible due to the new automatic signal system that has been set up at every one km in the Pune-Lonavla section while in the Pune-Daund section, block signal system has been set-up at every second station.
The railway has given the Intercity Express operating between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Pune a new look and coaches. The train now has Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches.
It will operate with 16 coaches instead of the present 15.
