The railways are using this information to design enhancements to its amenities and services and to increase non-fare box revenue.

Mumbai: The railways are now tracking passenger demand for Vande Bharat trains according to age and gender for the first time. According to data compiled by the Central Railway, the age group of passengers traveling on Vande Bharat out of Mumbai who are most numerous are those between the ages of 15 and 30 and 31 to 45.

Additionally, the figures show how many people of all sexes, including transgender people, traveled on the four Vande Bharat lines of the CR, including three routes from Mumbai to Shirdi, Goa, and Solapur between September 15 and October 13. During this time, 57,838 female passengers, 26 transgender people, and 85,600 male passengers rode Vande Bharat trains on the CR.

Chief PRO of Central Railway (CR), Shivraj Manaspure, stated that at this time, transgender people made up 4.5% of all passengers on Vande Bharat, while the average occupancy rate for youngsters (1–14 years old) was around 5%. According to estimates from the industry, the introduction of Vande Bharat trains resulted in a severe decline of 10–20% in aviation traffic and a 20–30% decrease in airfare.

The railways are making every effort to discover new strategies to promote Vande Bharat trains and boost passenger traffic. According to recent data, between 77% and 101% of the seats aboard these Vande Bharat trains traveling from Mumbai to Shirdi, Madgaon, and Solapur were occupied in September. According to the railway officials, a train’s occupancy relies on the number of passengers boarding from various stops along its whole journey, hence it can exceed 100%.

“These macro statistics will assist the Railways in increasing non-fare box revenue. The information on gender and age will be useful to ancillary businesses who wish to partner with the railways to advertise, whether it be on Vande Bharat train seats, trays, head rests, etc. They will have a good notion of the crowd thanks to this. According to Paresh Rawal, a public policy analyst for mobility and transportation, this information will also assist railways in planning future enhancements to services, food offerings, and other amenities.

Source- Hindustan times