ER revenue up 14 pc; Touch

Kolkata, Jun 23: The Eastern Railways (ER) have succeeded in increasing its originating revenue during April to May, 2007.

In a review meeting of ER held by Minister of State for Railways R Velu here today, ER General Manager Narendra Kumar Goel said the earnings from passenger traffic this year was Rs 196.74 crores, an increase of 14.89 per cent compared to Rs 171.24 last year.

Number of passengers also increased to 15.41 crores during the period as against 14.33 crores last year, he added.

Earning from freight traffic also increased by 37.09 per cent, Mr Goel said informing that the total earning had increased to Rs 448.00 crores as against Rs 406.7 crores earned during the corresponding two months in 2006.

He also informed that ER selected a total of 18 stations to provide "Touch&Feel" facility for the passengers this year.

About Rs 53.20 crores were sanctioned to improving cleanliness, lighting facilities, the circulating area in the stations, upgrading the waiting rooms, installation of train running indication boards, and provision of Cyber Cafes along with others.

He said 98 computerised railway reservation centers were opened in Eastern Railway and two more have been planned to be opened shortly. In addition, Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) were provided in 67 stations, auto announcement system at 119 stations, electronic train indication board at 62 stations and foot over bridges at 97 stations. Four pair of new trains, Howrah-Siuri Express, Howrah-Rampurhat Express, Bhagalpur-New Delhi Weekly Express and Banka-Bhagalpur Passenger would be introduced in the next week.

UNI