Mumbai railway commuters decline for the first time in decades
Image courtesy: NDTV
Local Press Co 5-point Snippet
1. Railway statistics for the year 2015-16 have highlighted a marginal decline in the numbers of passengers commuting on Mumbai’s Western and Central line, a first in decades.
2. According to stats, the passengers on Central line declined from 144 crore in 2014-15 to 142.9 crore in 2015-16. Similarly, the commuter count for Western Railway declined from 127 crore in 2014-15 to 124 crore in 2015-16.
3. Railway officials believe that the decline is primarily due to the surge in seasonal ticket buys in 2014-15, when the railways had introduced a fare hike. Since no hike was introduced last year, the ticket numbers have simply normalized.
4. In addition, officials have also claimed that a plethora of passengers have shifted to travelling via the Metro, Monorail or radio cabs.
5. The decline in commuters, however, isn’t hurting the Railways just yet. Despite the minor decline, both WR and CR have seen an increase in revenue with CR raking in over Rs 12 crore more and WR over Rs 5 crore more than the previous year.
