Mumbai November 29, 2024 (Punjab Khabarnama Bureau) – Indian Railways earned a magnificent amount of Rs 12,159.35 crore from ticket sales during the festive season from 1 September to 31 October this year. These figures were recently presented by the Indian Railways in the Parliament. During this two-month period, there were major festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Dussehra and Deepawali, due to which there was a huge increase in the number of passengers traveling by train.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav gave information about the revenue from railway ticket sales in response to a question in the Lok Sabha. According to the minister, between September 1 and November 10, a total of 143.71 crore passengers joined the Indian Railways to travel.
Passenger Numbers and Zone Wise Statistics:
The Railway Minister also gave zone wise figures:
- 31.63 crore passengers came to travel in the Central Zone , which was the highest in any zone. – 26.13 crore passengers came to travel in the Western Zone . – 24.67 crore passengers came to travel in the Eastern Zone . – The lowest number of passengers came to travel in the South-East Central Zone, which was 1.48 crore.
Additional special trains announced:
In view of the increase in passenger numbers during the festivals, the Railways had announced to run 7,663 additional special trains from October 1 to November 30, which was 73 percent more than in 2023. Last year, only 4,429 special trains were run during this period.
Number of passengers during Diwali and Chhath:
A total of 957.24 lakh non-suburban passengers were transported during the Diwali and Chhath festivals from October 24 to November 4. During this period last year, 923.33 lakh passengers had travelled, which shows an increase of 33.91 lakh passengers this year.
Record visit on November 4:
On November 4, more than 1.2 crore passengers travelled by train, including 19.43 lakh reserved and 1.01 crore unreserved non-suburban passengers. This figure was the largest single-day travel record so far in 2024.
Additional Special Trains:
According to the Railway Board, keeping in view the increasing number of passengers, 207 additional special trains were run on November 3 and 203 on November 4.
Sign of rising economic activity:
Looking at the increasing number of passengers carried by the railways, it is clear that the growing economy and high level of economic activities are also the reason for this increase. More people are now moving from rural areas to urban areas for employment and returning to their homes to celebrate religious festivals. In this way, Indian Railways made a great profit in its festive season and provided safe travel facilities to millions of passengers.