After launch of Vande Bharat, airfares dropped by 20%-30%: CR

The railways are using this data to plan improvements in services and amenities, as well as to generate revenue from non-fare boxes.

Mumbai: For the first time the railways are monitoring the demand for Vande Bharat trains based on gender and age of passengers. According to data collated by the Central Railway, the highest number of passengers travelling in Vande Bharat starting from Mumbai are in the age group of 31-45 years followed by 15-30 years of age.

Workers clean a Vande Bharat Express train at Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station, (HT Photo/Arvind Yadav)

The statistics also include the number of males, females and transgenders travelling on the four Vande Bharat routes of CR, including three from Mumbai going to Shirdi, Goa and Solapur between September 15 to October 13. In total 85,600 male, 26 transgenders and 57,838 female passengers travelled in Vande Bharat trains on CR during this period.

Shivraj Manaspure, chief PRO, Central Railway (CR) said, “During this period the average occupancy of children (1-14 years) was around 5% while transgenders contributed to 4.5% of the total passengers in Vande Bharat. As per the industry estimate, there has been a drastic fall of 10-20% in air traffic and a drop in airfares by 20%-30% after the launch of Vande Bharat trains”.

The railways are trying everything possible to find ways to further popularise Vande Bharat trains and increase footfall. The recent data on occupancy in September inside these Vande Bharat trains from Mumbai to Shirdi, Madgaon and Solapur ranges between 77%-101%. The railway officials explained that occupancy of any train depends on the passengers boarding from different stations along the entire route and so it crosses 100% as well.