High fuel bill may spur railway electrification

The mounting fuel bill because of the rise in diesel prices is set to renew the debate on the feasibility of electrifying more railway lines or continuing with diesel traction.

While the blue-print for electrification has recommended that "unbridled electrification" should be stopped, the electrical department of the railways has come up with a discussion paper, saying the concept of break-even line accepted by the railway board is now redundant.

The break-even line concept had been proposed by the Khosla Committee in 2002, which had suggested a line should be electrified only if the traffic crossed a certain level.

Taking into consideration the prices at that time, the committee had recommended a line be electrified only if it carried a traffic of over of 53.64 gross million tonnes per route kilometre annually.

The discussion paper, however, has said when the present costs of electricity and diesel were taken into account, the break-even throughput fell to 11 gross million tonnes per route kilometre a year. This level of traffic qualified for any line to be electrified, it added.

"The break-even line would become progressively insignificant in the coming years as the gap between the unit cost of electricity and diesel further widens," the discussion paper has said.

Listing comparisons, the paper has pointed out that the cost of diesel had increased at the median rate of 20 per cent, while the cost of electricity had remained stable in the past five years.

Even the line-haul cost "" which is a more comprehensive measure taking into account cost of fuel stores, repairs and maintenance, operating expenses, and interest on capital and depreciation "" is lower for electric lines.

During 2004-05, the cost of diesel traction for freight would be 50 per cent higher and for passenger trains it would be 3.5 per cent more expensive, the paper said.

There are, however, voices of dissent within the ministry itself. Some ministry officials have said that electrification involved various hidden costs which were glossed over while the comparisons were made. They have also said that retaining diesel traction is important in order to take care of electricity break-downs.

According to them, diesel locomotives are amenable to the use of gas, which is the fuel of the future. The recent blue-print cleared by the railway ministry, too, has focused on the present lot of projects than going in for new ones.