Like the preceding year, Metro Railway recorded heavy footfall during the six days of Durga Puja from Panchami to Dashami. A total of 41.65 lakh passengers travelled in North-South, East-West and Purple Metro lines with Metro earning Rs 6.12 crore.
Out of the total footfall, North-South Metro which connects Dakshineswar to Kavi Subhash recorded 39,46,945. The highest passenger count has been recorded at Dum Dum with 3,84,857, followed by Kalighat with 3,68,830 and Sovabazar-Sutanuti with 2,73,098 from Panchami to Dashami.
The East-West Metro corridor recorded 2,16,581 footfalls. The highest passenger count was recorded at Sealdah with 82,944, followed by Salt Lake Sector V with 31,225 and Karunamoyee with 26,349 on the mentioned days. Purple Line recorded a footfall of 1,807 on Panchami and Sashti.
In six days, Metro earned Rs 6.12 crore from token and smart card sales. Out of which, a majority was earned from the North-South Metro line which amounted to Rs 5.79 crore and the remaining which was Rs 32.86 lakh was earned from East-West and Rs 26,460 from the Purple line. In 2022, Metro Railway had earned a total revenue of Rs 6,06,94,056 during Durga Puja. They had earned a total revenue of Rs 5,79,90,716 for the North-South Metro corridor and Rs 27,03,340 for the East-West Metro corridor.
Meanwhile, Eastern Railway informed that Vande Bharat Express recorded 100 per cent occupancy in both chair car and executive class compartments on October 16, October 17 and October 19.
According to ER officials, the supersaturation of ticket booking in the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat route depicts the tourist preference to travel by the semi-high speed train to Darjeeling and Dooars region.
Stressing the inclusive environment created by Railways, ER shared that a total of 43 transgender passengers have chosen to travel by 22301/22302 Howrah – New Jalpaiguri – Howrah Vande Bharat Express in recent times.