CR's Vistadome coaches gain popularity, earns Rs 21.95 crore revenue in 9 months

Vistadome coach. Pic/CR

Central Railway's (CR) Vistadome Coaches have gained massive popularity among travelers last year. From the period of April 2023 to January 2024, bout 1,47,429 passengers have travelled in Vistadome coaches, registering revenue of Rs 21.95 crore.

"The Vistadome coaches have received overwhelming response from passengers. Whether it is the breathtaking views of the valleys, rivers and waterfalls along the Mumbai-Goa route or the spectacular views of the Western Ghats along the Mumbai-Pune route, these coaches with glass tops and wide windowpanes have proved to be a hit", said a press statement from CR.

Explaining the passenger count for Viastadome services, CR statement said that the total occupancy of these trains from April 2023 to January 2024 was 1.47 lakh passengers, with Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai Deccan Express being at the top with an occupancy of 99.50% ( 26,269 passengers), followed by the Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai Pragati Express with an occupancy of 99.17%, (26,183 passengers).

The CSMT-Madgaon-CSMT Janshatabdi Express registered occupancy of 97.13% (25,644 passengers) and the Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai Deccan Queen with an occupancy of 94.8% (25,030 passengers). While, the Mumbai-Karmali-Mumbai Tejas Express registered occupancy of 91.02% (24,031 passengers) and the Pune-Secunderabad-Pune Shatabdi Express with occupancy of 76.78% (20,272 passengers).

Explaining the revenue contribution by these services, the statement said, "the Mumbai-Karmali-Mumbai Tejas Express topped the list with revenue of Rs.6.18 crore, followed by the CSMT-Madgaon-CSMT Janshatabdi Express with revenue of Rs.5.14 crore.

The Pune-Secunderabad-Pune Shatabdi Express earned the revenue of Rs.4.16 crore and the Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai Deccan Queen with revenue of Rs.2.29 crore. While, the Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai Pragati Express earned the revenue of Rs.2.20 crore and the Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai Deccan Express with revenue of Rs.1.98 crore.

The Vistadome coaches were first introduced on CR in Mumbai-Madgaon Janshatabdi Express in 2018. Due to the huge demand from the passengers, the second Vistadome coach on Mumbai-Madgaon Route was attached to Tejas Express in 2022.

The popularity of these coaches led to the introduction of these coaches in the Mumbai-Pune Deccan Express and two more Vistadome coaches on Mumbai-Pune Route were attached to Deccan Queen and in Pragati express. One Vistadome coach was attached to Pune-Secunderabad Shatabdi Express.

The Vistadome coaches apart from having a glass roof top has a number of other features like wide windowpanes, LED lights, Rotatable Seats and Pushback Chairs, Electrically Operated Automatic Sliding Compartment Doors, Wide side sliding doors for Divyangs, Toilets with ceramic tile flooring and viewing gallery.