Railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal is likely to introduce a new Rajdhani express between Mumbai and New Delhi in the upcoming budget. As of now, there are two Rajdhanis originating daily from Mumbai Central to New Delhi.
A senior railway ministry official told DNA, "The ministry is considering a proposal for an additional Rajdhani express between New Delhi and Mumbai. It is likely to be announced in the upcoming railway budget. The two Rajdhani trains remain crowded in every season and wait list of passengers is getting longer by the day."
Western Railway, the zone in which Mumbai is located, has seen a continuous growth of traffic in the last few years. In 2011-12, the Western Railway carried 165 crore passengers. While in the first seven months of the current financial year (between April-October 2012), the ridership has touched Rs100 crore. In 2010-11, the zone carried 159 crore passengers.
The earnings from passenger operations h ave also seen a rising trend over the past few years. The earnings went up to Rs2,788 crore in 2011-12, compared with Rs2,565 crore in 2010-11.
The Railway ministry has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the French National Railways on Thursday. "Under the High Speed Cooperation Programme, the parties have decided to carry out jointly an operations and development feasibility project on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail. This project will be funded by SNCF with a support from the French ministry of finance," said the ministry of railways.
The MoU is valid for the next five years and can be mutually extended for one year at a time by mutual consent.
