The Western Railways on Wednesday clarified that trains on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route run at over 100% capacity, unlike what was reported a day earlier based on its response to a Right to Information query. The RTI response had shown that over 40% train seats on this route went vacant during the July-September quarter.
The query had asked for the number of passengers only from Mumbai Central to Ahmedabad and Ahmedabad to Mumbai Central, a statement tweeted by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said. However, most passengers need to board or get off from trains on the way, and they were not covered by the query or its response from the Western Railways.
Also, despite the period under review being a lean season, the total seat occupancy was 124.7%, the Western Railways said. The total revenue earned by Western Railways on the route during July-September was Rs 233 crore, the statement said.
After the RTI response, Anil Galgali, the activist who had filed the request, had said that the government had not “done its homework properly” before planning to invest more than Rs 1 lakh crore for India’s first bullet train on the same route.
“Contrary to media reports, Mumbai-Ahmedabad train section running at above 100% occupancy and will benefit immensely from the bullet train,” Goyal tweeted.
In September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for India’s first bullet train in Ahmedabad. Centre has taken a loan of Rs 88,000 crore for the project from Japan. The project is expected to be completed in 10 years.
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