Western Railway admits airlines luring away Rajdhani passengers

Admitting a dip in the number of passengers, Western Railway, which runs the premier Mumbai-New Delhi Rajdhani Express train, has said it is facing stiff competition from airlines to woo travellers back.

Mukul Jain, Divisional Railway Manager, Western Railway, told The Indian Express that the second class ridership of the train is currently witnessing lower footfall than expected.

In a bid to attract passengers back to its fold, Western Railway has tried to give a makeover to the Rajdhani through modernisation of coaches and interiors.

Airlines have been attracting passengers travelling in the Rajdhani by offering cheaper airfares and offers in the lucrative route which has hurt railways ridership in the second AC coaches.

According to the report published by UK-based OAG Aviation Worldwide has termed the Mumbai-Delhi corridor as the third-busiest domestic air route in 2017 in the world with a total of 47,462 flights operated between these two cities.

To enhance passengers' experience, the railways have modified the seating area and pantry cars with additional facilities under the Project Swarn.

The Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani has one first AC coach, five second AC coaches and 11 third AC coaches. Western Railway operates three Rajdhani trains between Mumbai and Delhi every week via Vadodara.

The Railways is working on reducing the travel time between Mumbai and Delhi to 12 hours from the existing 16 hours by upgrading the track infrastructure that would support speed between 160 and 200 km per hour.