Metro Railway, as part of Indian Railways has been playing a significant role in this initiative and various innovative steps have been adopted to increase its revenue which is in general totally dependent on passenger earnings.
More Details:
- Indian Railways is encouraging various initiatives to increase its Non-Fare Revenue in order to boost earnings apart from the traditional sources of income.
- As part of that endeavour, Metro Railway has been focusing on generating revenues through providing Pick Up and Drop off (PUDO) facilities, branding Litter Bins at stations, displaying advertisements inside and outside Metro rakes, displaying hoardings in open spaces and installing health check-up kiosks at different stations, handle chain branding etc.
- For the first time in any Metro station in the country, PUDO facility has been provided at Sealdah Metro station. In another unique initiative, 204 Litter Bins at 34 stations of North-South and East-West Corridors have been branded so far. Handle chains of different Medha rakes are also being branded.
- Apart from this, Metro Railway has also implemented innovative ideas like Track Side Walls Branding, Card Balance Checking Terminal (CBCT) Branding, Automatic Smart Card Recharge Machine (ASCRM) Branding, AFC-PC Gates and Flap Branding, installation of food kiosks, Smart Card and Token Branding, installing digital display screens inside rakes for providing infotainment to commuters etc. Such initiatives have helped to increase Metro Railways Non-Fare Revenue to a great extent.
- With such concerted efforts Metro Railway has earned Rs. 16.43 crores during 1st April, 2023 to 31st August, 2023. In 2022-23 Metro had earned Rs. 11.21 crores as Non-Fare Revenue (NFR) during the same period (i.e. April,2022 to August,2022). This is an increase of 46.57%.
Source: Kolkata Metro- Press Release | Image Credit (representational): Kolkata Metro
