HYDERABAD: The South Central Railway has carried 375.80 million passengers in 2016-17 as against 366.60 million in the previous financial year, which is higher in number by 9.16 million passengers.
The total earnings from passenger service is about Rs 3,564.8 crore in the year, the highest-ever passenger earnings in the history of SCR. This revenue from transporting passengers is Rs 252 crore higher than in previous year.
SCR introduced nine new trains, and extended run of seven existing trains and increased the frequency of one train. Besides, 69 trains have been speeded up and three trains upgraded to superfast express.
In terms of augmentation, SCR attached 40 coaches to regular trains, generating an additional capacity of 2,600 berths every day. It also attached 14,741 coaches on temporary basis, creating 6 lakh additional berths. SCR operated 1,468 trips of special trains to clear extra rush of passengers. The special trains were run from Hyderabad to Jaipur, Bikaner, Raxual, Madurai, Kochuvelli, Tata Nagar and some other destinations.
To meet the passenger demand in the summer season more than 400 trains have been announced and over 2,000 coaches will be added for temporary augmentation. During the 12-day Krishna Pushkarams in August last year, 691 special trains were run, 4,871 extra coaches attached, 107 temporary stoppages provided and 4.26 million passengers carried.
As many as 1.69 lakh ticket-checking cases were registered against ticketless travellers, 4.7 per cent more than last year. Penalties levied on ticketless travellers yielded Rs 1.85 crore more than last year. The total earning from ticket checking is estimated to be Rs 125 crore.