Railway fares not to be hiked

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad has made up his mind not to increase passenger fares for the third year running. Instead he is seeking a turnaround in the fortunes of the passenger sector of the railways much in the same way as the freight sector had seen.

That is, by increasing volumes, capacity utilisation, and for the first time since the 1920s, massively changing the timings of all major trains in the country, Prasad is thinking of increasing revenue from passenger traffic by up to 15 per cent or Rs 1,600 crore this year. The total losses are to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore per year in this sector.

Officials in the railway ministry say that each express train with a waiting list of over 100 is going to get at least four more coaches added to it. "We will not refund the money, instead we will ensure that passengers reach their destination," said an official.

"What this means in pure numbers is that although the cost of per train km for an express train is going to go up from Rs 440 to Rs 480, business will go up by 30 per cent. Such trains number 280 in the non-peak season, while during peak season coaches will be added to 500 trains," said an official. "Increasing fares in a fiercely competitive market is self defeating," added the official.

More than that, officials say, what is needed is to remove the "cushions" in the railway time table. "The railway time table printed by the Bradshaws has been almost unchanged since the 1920s, with minor changes being done to increase stations for various political reasons," said an official.

Thus the Delhi-Kolkata Toofan Mail which used to take 28 hours for its journey in 1928, now takes 36 hours. But the train technically does not need as frequent breaks as in 1928, for engineering allowance, traffic allowance, winter allowance or even monsoon allowance, and therefore, the turnaround time can be reduced, say officials.

"Therefore we can reduce turn around time, instead of two rakes at each end, we keep one rake, reduce cost and by increasing coaches, increase the overall volume," said the official. "An increase of revenue up to 30 per cent is possible," added the official.

This is not the only way that the passenger sector of the railways is to see a revival. Ministry sources say that catering and parcel services are also in for an overhaul with a projected capacity utilisation hike of up to 40 per cent, 20 per cent more than the present rate of 20 per cent. By even partial increase in capacity the parcel division has seen an increase in revenue from Rs 13 crore to Rs 100 crore,' said an official.

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CATCHING STEAM

Railway ministry is targeting an increase in passenger volumes and hike revenue by 15% this year

Timings for all major trains may be changed for the first time since the 1920s

Express trains with a waiting list of over 100 may get four more coaches added to them

Catering and parcel services are also in for an overhaul with a projected capacity utilisation hike of up to 40%