Flights lag trains on short-haul bargains

Amit Khanna, a sales executive, is planning a trip to Amritsar this summer. Not for him, however, the lure of budget airlines. Instead, he's booked himself on the Amritsar Shatabdi, paying Rs 1,200 for an AC chair-car seat.

The same trip would have cost Khanna Rs 2,924 on GoAir "" that too for a ticket booked 15 days in advance. On Deccan Air, the fare is Rs 2,999. "I have opted for train travel since there is still a huge difference in air and train fares," he said.

As for the time differential, Khanna said the gains from travelling by air are negligible if other factors are considered "" check-in time and the fact that flights are often cancelled for a host of reasons.

Budget carriers may be a good bargain on long-haul routes such as Delhi-Mumbai or Delhi-Bangalore. But on shorter routes, it is still cheaper (and sometimes more convenient) to take a train.

A comparison of air and rail tariffs on key short-haul routes shows that the Indian Railways score strongly over aviation companies "" even at the maximum rail fare. 

NO SHUNTING THE RAILWAYS
ROUTE	TRAIN	RAILWAY FARE	RAILAY TIME	AIR LINES	AIR FEES	AIR TIME
Delhi-Shimla	Himalayan Queen	Rs 600 (chair car)	6 hrs	Jagson	Rs 4000	1 hrs 30 mts
Delhi-Lucknow	Shatabdi	Rs 1360 (1st Ac)	6 hrs	Deccan	Rs 1299
				Jet	Rs 2900	1 hr
Delhi-Chandigarh	Shatabdi	Rs 800 (1st AC)	8 hrs	Deccan	Rs 1950
				Jet	Rs 3999	45 mts
Delhi-Amritsar	Shatabdi	Rs 1200 (1st AC)	4 hrs	GoAir	Rs 2924
				Deccan	Rs 2999	2 hrs
Mumbai-Ahmedabad	Shatabdi	Rs 1230 (Ex Chair)	8 hrs	SpiceJet	Rs 2224	1 hr
Mumbai-Pune	Shatabdi	Rs 710 (AC Chair)	3 hrs	Jet Airways	Rs 5400	35 mts
Chennai-B'lore	Shatabdi	Rs 990  (AC Chair)	5 hrs	Air Deccan	Rs 1035	1 hr
Mumbai-Goa	Jan Shatabdi	Rs 800 (AC Chair)	9 hrs	GoAir	Rs 1750	1 hr

With air fares having recently risen 10 per cent all round on account of fuel surcharges, the differential has widened. Consider a journey to the hill station of Shimla. An executive class ticket on the Himalayan Queen from Delhi to Kalka, the nearest railway station 35 minutes away, costs roughly Rs 600 less than the lowest comparable air fare.

An air ticket to Shimla on Jagson Airline costs Rs 4,000 (booked 15 days in advance) and one on Air Deccan's new service, booked a month ahead, costs Rs 2,000.

Of course, one is paying a premium for the convenience of arriving at the destination in one and a half hours. But even this is iffy. If the weather is bad, the flight is often cancelled. Plus, with today's airport security, one needs to check in at least two hours ahead.

In western India, an AC chair-car seat on a Shatabdi will get you from Mumbai to Pune for Rs 710 in a comfortable three-hour ride. Jet Airways covers the distance in 35 minutes "" for Rs 5,400. Add to that check-in time and the time differential gets neutralised.

Some airline companies suggest that the fare difference vis-a-vis the Indian Railways is offset by shortage of seats.

Said Ajay Singh, director of Delhi-based budget airline SpiceJet, "You will not get a confirmed Rajdhani ticket immediately. Regarding airfares, the current rise is due to a good season. Passengers would have got much cheaper tickets if they had booked in advance."

True, advance bookings may yield cheaper fares but not necessarily a confirmed seat. For instance, passengers who booked tickets to Kochi three months in advance had to find another way of getting there when GoAir cancelled its flight on April 30 for technical reasons. A similar thing happened on the same day with another budget carrier, IndiGo.