Ghost train rises from the ashes
The Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar-Ahmedabad MEMU is back on track even though it fails to generate even one-thousandth of the daily expenditure of Rs 1.2 lakh required to run it
By Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Monday, August 24, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20City§id=3&contentid=2009082420090824030752281ccc23a8a)
The ghost train is back on track after the Railway Board did a flip-flop on its decision to withdraw the local train plying between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.
In an order dated August 10, the Board ordered the train, which failed to generate even one-thousandth of the daily expenditure of Rs 1.2 lakh required to run it, off the tracks from August 12. However, on the morning of August 12, railway authorities here received another Board notification revoking the earlier order.
The latest missive stated the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar-Ahmedabad MEMU will run till further orders are issued.
Asked why the train was restarted, railway officials said, “There is great demand for the train, so it will continue linking Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.”Great demand, indeed. Must be from the hundreds of ghost passengers who take the train because the last time Mirror checked, there were just six passengers travelling in the 13-bogied train.
The income generated at the end of the day was not more than Rs 27 while the Western Railway was spending Rs 1.45 lakh on the train’s one-way trip. The highest monthly income it had generated through the year was Rs 1,000 and the lowest Rs 446.
By Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Monday, August 24, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20City§id=3&contentid=2009082420090824030752281ccc23a8a)
The ghost train is back on track after the Railway Board did a flip-flop on its decision to withdraw the local train plying between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.
In an order dated August 10, the Board ordered the train, which failed to generate even one-thousandth of the daily expenditure of Rs 1.2 lakh required to run it, off the tracks from August 12. However, on the morning of August 12, railway authorities here received another Board notification revoking the earlier order.
The latest missive stated the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar-Ahmedabad MEMU will run till further orders are issued.
Asked why the train was restarted, railway officials said, “There is great demand for the train, so it will continue linking Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.”Great demand, indeed. Must be from the hundreds of ghost passengers who take the train because the last time Mirror checked, there were just six passengers travelling in the 13-bogied train.
The income generated at the end of the day was not more than Rs 27 while the Western Railway was spending Rs 1.45 lakh on the train’s one-way trip. The highest monthly income it had generated through the year was Rs 1,000 and the lowest Rs 446.
