Title - Western Railway long-term pass sales higher than Central Railway's

MUMBAI: The newly introduced yearly and half-yearly season tickets have proved more popular on Western Railway (WR) than Central Railway (CR).

In April, WR sold more yearly and half-yearly passes in both first and second-class categories than CR. Yearly and half-yearly passes became available to suburban train commuters from April 1.

First-class sales figures show WR sold 299 yearly and 1,394 half-yearly passes in a month. The corresponding figures for CR were 226 and 942.

The second-class trend was similar with WR selling 788 yearly and 3,515 half-yearly passes, compared to the CR sales of 589 annual and 2,875 half-yearly passes.

Before April, only monthly and quarterly passes were offered. The annual pass costs 10.8 times and the half-yearly 5.4 times, the monthly pass for both first and second-class. For 60 km, the first-class yearly pass costs Rs 11,145 and the six-monthly Rs 5,575. For the same distance, the corresponding second-class pass costs are Rs 3,080 and Rs 1,540.

"The sale of YST and HST are commensurate with passenger profile for CR commuters.

We are going to undertake initiatives to popularize the yearly and half-yearly passes," CR chief PRO, VA Malegaonkar said.

Those who go for half-yearly passes will get 18 days of commute free. An annual pass will bring 37 days of free travel.

"The introduction of YST and QST will not only save commuter's time and efforts to renew their season tickets again and again but will also be economical for their daily commute," WR's chief public relations officer Sharat Chandrayan said.