Nashik Road station's earnings surge

Nashik: The Nashik Road railway station's earnings through the sale of reserved and unreserved tickets has nearly touched the Rs 100 crore-mark.
It has raked in a revenue of Rs 99.86 crore in 2015-15 as compared to Rs 94.98 crore in the previous fiscal. The earnings were only through manual bookings and not from the online bookings done by the commuters - about 56% of the total volume of bookings generated by the Railways.
The Nashik Road railway station, which falls in the A1 category, is the only one in the Bhusawal Division that has recorded a rise in bookings by 5.13% as against the annual rise in business of around 10%.Railway officials said the rise was because of the online booking system that people are now hooked on to.
"During a recent meeting in Mumbai, we were told that the Railways' online business of ticket booking was about 56% of the total tickets booked. It is expected to touch 80% in the next couple of years. Considering the competition, the passengers railway system at Nashik Road, Canada Corner and Nashik Artillery Centre together have recorded such figures," said a railway official.
The Railways has raked in revenue through current booking, most of it coming during Kumbh Mela for which the authorities had opened a counter in Trimbakeshwar.
"The statistics clearly show that the current booking business of the railways at Nashik Road station is better as against the reservation business, which is witnessing a dip. It indicates that the passengers preferred the unreserved ticket system. There were issues such as reservations for trains passing through Nashik during the time being frozen. Most of the coaches were thrown open for even current bookings," the officer said.
Railway consumers, however, are frowning over the treatment being meted out to them.
"Despite being an A1 class station in the Bhusawal Division, Nashik Road station is being neglected. There are neither escalators nor elevators to allow the passengers take the foot over bridge for crossing over other platforms. Besides, the platforms also lack passenger amenities such as chairs," said Akshay Sutar, a resident of Bodhalenagar.
"The visitors have no place to sit for some time before the arrival of a train. They are either forced to stand or sit on the floor. There should be some facilities that would keep the people engaged. A Wi-Fi system would definitely be appreciated," said Ninad Kesri, a resident of Uttar Pradesh.