Title - Lord Ganesh brings WR/CR Rs.10 Crore cheer

MUMBAI: The 10-day Ganpati festival brought a major revenue fillip to Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR), with the two collectively earning Rs 10 crore more than usual. The suburban railway network saw an average of 4.30 lakh passengers more per day during Ganeshotsav.

On Monday, September 16, the CR network saw a record-breaking 65 lakh passengers compared to the daily average of 40 lakh, an increase of 62% in passenger traffic.

On the same day, WR saw 49.46 lakh passengers compared to the daily average of 35 lakh, an increase of 42%.

A CR official said the passenger count on September 16 was the highest for a day seen so far on the suburban network. “It surpassed the till-date highest tally of 53 lakh commuters registered on August 20, the day of Rakshabandhan,” the official said.

In fact around 47 lakh commuters used the suburban rail network on August 27, a non-festival day. The highest single-day figure previously recorded was in the last financial year was Rs 43.1 lakh on Diwali day.

A senior WR official said the average per day earning during Ganeshotsav was about Rs 50 lakh more than usual. “We have been able to earn Rs 2.22 crore per day as against the daily average of 1.70 crore,” the official said.

On CR, the collection during Ganeshotsav soared to an average of Rs 2.5 crore per day from the daily average of Rs 2 crore on normal days.

A WR official said many people used Lower Parel station to go to Lalbaugcha Raja.

At Lower Parel, passengers booked on September 16 and 17 were 1.29 lakh and 94,000, respectively, against the daily station average of 69,000. At Charni Road, passengers booked on September 18-the day of the visarjan -were 91,000 against the daily station average of 68,000.

“During big festivals like Ganpati, Navratri or Diwali, rail transport is the swiftest as roads are usually clogged,” a senior official said. “Many vehicles get caught in traffic jams for hours as the road width gets decreased to the erection of pandals, thus blocking the smooth flow of traffic. In such a scenario, even non-rail travelers jump on the train to avoid traffic.”

A WR official said during Ganpati people from nearby places like Baroda and Surat come down to the city to pray to the Lalbaugcha Raja.

Ramesh Shah, a Ghatkopar resident, said he could see trains going towards CST were full as late as 11 pm.

“This seems to be a new trend as I had not seen such large crowds during the Ganpati festival before,” he said.

Railway activist Subash Gupta said, “I am sure many would have also travelled without ticket too due to long queues. During Ganapati festivals, the railway authorities should set up separate stalls a important stations to sell only tourist tickets, which are valid for travel in any part of the city. It is cheaper and will fetch revenue. Increase in suburban passengers during Ganpati”