COVID-19: WR Mumbai suffers Rs 263 cr loss, overall loss Rs 1,784 cr

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The Western Railway incurred a loss of Rs 1,784 crore, which includes Rs 263 crore for suburban section and Rs 1,521 crore for non -suburban, during the lockdown imposed due to the outbreak of Coronavirus.

Chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur said that due to the cancellation of tickets from March 1 to July 16, the Western Railway has to refund the amount of Rs 398.01 crore. The refund amount of the Mumbai division alone is Rs 190.20 crore. Till now, 61.15 lakh passengers have cancelled tickets in the entire Western Railway and have received their refund amount accordingly.

Western Railway's parcel special trains, as well as goods trains, continued to transport essential commodities across the country. During the lockdown, when other means of transport are restricted, the Western Railway is ensuring the supply of milk, medicines and other necessary products to different parts of the country. It has also fulfilled the responsibility of transporting essential items like medical equipment, foodgrains, etc in small parcel sizes across the nation.

"From March 23 to July 18, commodities like agricultural produce, medicines, fish, milk, etc, weighing more than 79,000 tonnes have been transported by Western Railway through 408 parcel special trains. The earnings through this transportation have been Rs 25.20 crore. During this period, 60 milk special trains were also run by Western Railway, with a load of more than 45 thousand tonnes and 100% utilization of the wagons, generating Rs 7.80 crore revenue," said Thakur.

He further said that 336 Covid-19 special parcel trains with a load of more than 29,000 tonnes were also run to transport various essential commodities and Rs 14.82 crore revenue was earned through it.

Thakur added, "12 indented rakes carrying 5,168 tonnes were also run with almost 100% utilization generating revenue of over Rs 2.58 crore. One more parcel special train left from Okha to Changsari on July 19."

During the lockdown period from March 22 till July 18, about 9,536 rakes of goods trains have been used by Western Railway to supply essential commodities amounting to 19.29 million tonnes. Also, 18,680 freight trains have been interchanged with other zonal railways, in which 9,323 trains were handed over and 9,357 trains taken over at different interchange points.

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