While the Narendra Modi government is moving ahead with plans to run a bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, an RTI (Right to Information) application has found that 40% of seats in trains in this region remain vacant, and Western Railway is facing huge losses.

In response to the RTI received from Anil Galgali, Mumbai's worker, the Western Railway has said that the area has lost 30 crore rupees in the last three months, i.e. loss of Rs 10 crore per month.

Galgali said that this bullet train raises serious questions on the viability of the project, no matter when it is constructed.

He said, "The Government of India is going to spend more than Rs one lakh crores on the bullet train project in extreme exaggerations, but he has not done his homework properly".

Indian Railways also admitted that there is no plan to run a new train in this area as it is already in deficit.

Galgali had asked the question how many seats are filled with trains between the two cities? Western Railway said that in the last three months, 40 per cent seats have been vacant in all the trains of Mumbai-Ahmedabad region, while 44 per cent seats in Ahmedabad-Mumbai trains are vacant.

Manjeet Singh, Chief Commercial Manager, West Railway, gave information about the seats of all the major trains of Mumbai-Ahmedabad-Mumbai route in response to the RTI. This includes Duranto, Shatabdi Express, Lokshakti Express, Gujarat Mail, Bhavnagar Express, Suracsha Express, Vivek-Bhuj Express and other trains. The most popular train in this area, the 12009 Shatabdi Express has a capacity of 72,696 seats in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route, out of which only 36,117 seats were filled during the July-September period, whereas the same train will have a total of 67,392 seats on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route. 22,982 seats were booked only.

This train was once full of all the seasons, but now it is going on in losses. Galgali pointed out that given the current scenario, where people are traveling more than the aircraft, it has become easier to travel between the two cities on the road. The Center and the Gujarat government should review expensive options such as a bullet train so that it is not proved white elephant for Indian taxpayers.

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