Bullet Train? Not So Fast! 40% Seats on Mumbai-Ahmedabad Trains Go Vacant

Over 40 percent of seats on all the trains on the Mumbai -Ahmedabad route go vacant causing huge losses worth Rs. 10 crore per month, an RTI query has revealed, according to IANS. This raises questions about the viability of the Bullet Train project, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently. It is projected to cost Rs 1,10,000 crore and has been one of the pet projects of Modi.

It has been shown that the Bullet Train will be very expensive, have low viability and cause much damage to land and environment on its 650 km long route.

The information on passengers and financial losses was revealed by the Western Railway after Mumbai based activist Anil Galgali filed an RTI. The Indian Railways have also admitted that they have no plans to introduce any new trains on this sector which is already in the red.

Replying to Galgali's query on seats occupancy on all the trains between the two cities, the WR revealed that in the past three months, 40 percent all seats went vacant on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector and 44 percent empty on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route, IANS said.

There are 32 mail/express trains already running between Ahmedabad and Mumbai with a total seating capacity of 735,630 seats, Western Railway's Chief Commercial Manager Manjeet Singh said in response to the RTI query.

Of these, only 441,795 seats were booked during that period generating a revenue of Rs 30,16,24,623 against the total estimated expected income of Rs 44,29,08,220 - incurring a huge loss of Rs 14,12,83,597 in the past quarter. Similar figures were made available for the reverse journey from Mumbai to Ahmedabad.

Faced with the vacancies on existing trains, the WR Divisional Engineer, Ahmedabad informed that there is no fresh proposal to introduce any new trains on this sector.

In fact, Galgali said that the most popular train, 12009 Shatabdi Express with a capacity of 72,696 seats sold only 36,117 during the July-September period on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route and in the return direction of the total 67,392 seats, only 22,982 were sold.

Galgali pointed out that given this current alarming scenario, coupled with growing preference for flights and improved road travel, the Central and Gujarat governments must review the expensive option of the Bullet Train before it becomes a white elephant for the Indian taxpayers, reports IANS.