With mammoth crowds thronging the puja pandals, the Sealdah division of the Eastern Railway carried more than one crore commuters in the suburban section during the peak festive days between 8 October and 12 October.
According to sources, the division carried around 20 lakh commuters on an average every day. The number of commuters recorded during the period, according to the divisional office has seen an increase as compared to the last year. As learnt from the divisional railway sources, during last year Durga Puja, Sealdah division had carried 95.36 lakh suburban commuters. This year, the count went up by 5.16 per cent with the division ferrying more than one crore passengers between Panchami to Dashami.
Like Sealdah, the Howrah division also witnessed a massive footfall of suburban commuters during the festive days. According to the ER office, during the period between 10-12 October, the division witnessed an increase of 13.21 per cent in passenger count registering around 60 lakh commuters this year in the suburban section. As learnt from the zonal railway office, last year Howrah division had carried around 52.61 lakh commuters during the puja days.
Like the local trains, city’s lifeline transport, Kolkata Metro Railway also witnessed a 1.77 per cent rise in passenger count. During the peak festive days, the city Metro carried 50.5 lakh passengers from Chaturthi to Dashami. Of the total, Blue Line ferried 44.19 lakh passengers, Green Line-1 carried 2.53 lakh passengers and Green Line-2 has carried 3.79 lakh passengers during the six days of the festival.
According to the city Metro office, in Blue Line, the highest passenger count has been recorded at Dum Dum with 4.43 lakh commuters, followed by Kalighat with 3.61 lakh and Sovabazar-Sutanuti with 3.11 lakh from Chaturthi to Dashami.