Railways not keeping separate profit record for Vande Bharat trains: RTI

102 Vande Bharat trains operate on 100 routes covering 284 districts in 24 states and union territories.

New Delhi:

The Ministry of Railways’ response to an application filed under the RTI Act revealed that the Ministry of Railways does not maintain any separate record of revenue generation by Vande Bharat trains.

Madhya Pradesh’s Chandra Shekhar Gaur wants to know how much revenue the Railway Ministry has earned from Vande Bharat trains in the past two years and whether its operations are profitable or loss-making. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated in its response.

Vande Bharat is the country’s first semi-high-speed train which was launched between New Delhi and Varanasi on February 15, 2019. There are currently 102 Vande Bharat trains running on 100 routes covering 24 states and union territories. 284 regions.

More than 20 million people have traveled on Vande Bharat trains since they were first launched, railway officials said on Monday.

Officials also said that the Vande Bharat trains will cover a distance equivalent to 310 times around the earth in the financial year 2023-24.

Mr. Gaur expressed surprise and said the Railways maintained the number of passengers and distance covered by Vande Bharat trains but not the most important information about revenue generation.

“Railway officials can calculate the distance traveled by Vande Bharat trains in a year and the total distance they cover equivalent to one circumnavigation of the earth, but there is no total revenue collected from these trains,” Gaur said.

“It is important for Railways to maintain a record of revenue generation unlike Vande Bharat trains as they are India’s first semi-high-speed new generation trains and their profitability will establish their true popularity,” he added.

As far as occupancy is concerned, the railways said in response to another application filed under RTI in October last year that the overall utilization of Vande Barat trains was over 92 per cent, which railway officials termed an encouraging figure.

An official said: “Vande Bharat trains are performing very well on some routes and on some others the occupancy is average but if you see the overall utilization it is quite substantial ”

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