Times of India: Surat: Tuesday, June 12, 2018.
While the
central government is keen on developing Multi Model Transportation Hub (MMTH)
at Surat railway station, people are demanding that Western Railway (WR) should
think of creating divisional railway manager (DRM) office in the city which can
serve from Vapi to Ankleshwar and on Tapti line up to Bhusaval.
As per the
information sought under the Right To Information (RTI) Act, Surat railway
station generates annual revenue of Rs 350 crore for WR. The the total revenue
of Tapti line and Surat put together comes to Rs 500 crore.
Revenue
earned for passengers travelling from Surat for financial year 2016-17 and
2017-18 is Rs 333 crore and Rs 353 crore respectively. If one has to compare
revenue of Vadodara railway station for same years, then it is merely Rs 237
crore and Rs 257 crore respectively.
Entire
Bhavanagar division revenue is Rs 91 crore and Rs 103 crore for 2016-17 and
2017-18 respectively, where Rajkot has the annual revenue of Rs 209 crore and
Rs 213 crore for similar period.
The Surat
railway station, however, contributes to almost 20% of total revenue of Mumbai
Central. The major chunk of revenue comes from suburban trains and that the
divisional railway manager of WR have to allocate more time in management of
suburban operations.
RTI activist
and member of Surat Railway Station Development Citizen Forum (SRSDC) Rajesh
Modi said, “Comparing all revenue collection of passenger tickets, Surat must
be given DRM office on urgent basis for better concentration and facility
enhancement. It’s high time that authorities pay much needed attention to Surat
railway station.”
About 1.20
lakh passengers alight and travel from Surat to various destinations in the
country. Around 30,000 current tickets and 10,000 reserved tickets are issued
for various destinations from Surat.
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