Railways for unigauge policy to cut losses

The railways suffer an annual loss of around Rs 3,200 crore on its metre gauge and narrow gauge lines. This has now forced the ministry to take up a review of these lines to find a solution to the problem.

Apparently, the ministry is of the view that these lines should be converted to broad gauge instead of investing in renewing the tracks.

According to a ministry official, metre and narrow gauge lines lose Rs 700 crore in the freight segment and Rs 2,500 crore in the passenger segment.

"The narrow and metre gauges are bleeding the railways dry," the official said.

According to the official, turnaround time on broad gauge lines was 4.75 days while in the metre and narrow gauge it was 14 days. Power consumption per 1,000 gross tonne kilometre too was way higher for trains using metre and narrow gauge lines.

According to the official, the losses due to metre and broad gauge lines was particularly high among five zones.

The railways had converted loss-making lines such as Jaipur-Agra and Chittorgarh-Udaipur into broad gauge and found the experiment successful.

The ministry's assessment is that by converting these lines into broad-gauge they can reduce losses to around Rs 1,600 crore.

Meanwhile, the railways has also decided to start a factory each in Chapra in Bihar and Rae Bareili in Uttar Pradesh.

The new units, which will cost the ministry Rs 1,000 crore each, are expected to start operating in three years.

The factory that is proposed to be built at Rai Bareili will manufacture coaches for the railways.

According to the official, the railways will need a large number of coaches and locomotives in the coming five years, which the existing units will not be able to provide.