Missing Passengers

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu must be a worried man. The passenger traffic is shrinking, and so are the chances of meeting the revenue targets for the fisc. Between April and September of the current financial year, Indian Railways saw a shortfall of 142 million passengers compared to the corresponding period last year. In percentage terms, it amounted to a 5 per cent drop in passenger traffic and nearly 7 per cent fall in passenger revenue, compared to the Budget targets. In real terms, passenger earnings in the six-month period stood at Rs 23,108.38 crore as against the Budget target of Rs 24,814.48 crore. The cumulative passenger traffic for the same period stood at 4,110 million against projections of 4,327 million.