Indian Railways: Worsening State for the aam aadmi

Updated: 3/18/2024
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Last updated: 18th Mar 2024

Indian Railways, with Vande Bharat projected as new face of upgrades, has many worrying trends for the common man

-- Share of Non-AC coaches reduced by upto 75%: Used by 95.3% Indians
-- Failure to maintain revenue since 2016-17
-- CAG: Only 0.7% of the required funds for track renewal used
-- Only 2% tracks have anti-collision systems
-- Failure to maintain revenue since 2016-17
-- On average, trains run slower, less punctual
-- Severe staff shortage in Indian Railways

1. Cut in Sleeper/non-AC leading to chaos & overcrowding

Apr-Oct 2023: Overwhelming majority (95.3%) of 390.2 crore railway passengers opted for non-AC classes[1]

RTI replies and other news reports confirms reducing share of non-AC coaches[2][3], though Railways minister refuted the claim[4]

This change is reportedly a ploy to generate more revenue[3:1]

1a. South-Eastern Railways: % of Sleeper vs AC coaches[2:1]

1b. Maharashtra - Fewer Non-AC coaches

20 June 2023

Nagpur-Mumbai Duronto train is operating with only 2 sleeper (Earlier 8) and other 6 sleeper have been converted to expensive AC-3 class[3:2]

  • Similarly, Amravati-Mumbai Express will also have only 2 sleeper class coaches[3:3]
  • A sleeper class ticket from Nagpur to Mumbai costs around ₹600 while AC-III ticket comes to ₹1,800 one way

2. Failure to maintain revenue since 2016-17[5]

Operating ratio off 107.39% means the Railways spent more than Rs 107 to earn Rs 100 for just operations

3. Poor maintenance of tracks[5:1]

CAG report says only 0.7% of the funds i.e. just Rs 671.92 crore were used for track renewal

25+% of the 1,129 train derailments that took place between 2017-’18 and 2020-’21 were linked to track renewals

  • By the end of 2020-’21, Rs 58,459 crore were to be used for renewal of tracks
  • 2015 white paper said that 4,500 km of track should be renewed annually. Since then, this has not happened in a single year till at least 2021-’22

4. Anti-collision systems not implemented

Only 2% i.e. mere 1500km out of approx. 68,000 km of rail network has got anti-collision devices installed as of Nov 2023[6]

  • Anti-collision systems 'Kavach' was widely publicised
  • Apr-Oct 2023: ZERO Kavach lines commissioned against target of 637 km[7]

5. Safety funds misused[8]

Over a 4-year period, the Indian railways was only able to drum up Rs 4,225 crore – leaving a shortfall of Rs 15,775 crore in their contribution

Safety fund was spent on foot massagers, crockery, electrical appliances, furniture, winter jackets etc etc

  • Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) – a special fund created by the Narendra Modi government in 2017 to improve railway safety
  • The fund should have received Rs 20,000 crore each year – with Rs 15,000 from the Union and Rs 5,000 from the railways’s revenue

6. Trains run slower, less punctual

Nov 2023: Railways' data shows drop in average speed of both passenger and freight trains[9][10]

  • Average speed of passenger trains reduced by 5 kmph in 2023 as compared to 2022[9:1]
  • Freight trains had 25.8 kmph speed in April-September 2023 as compared to 31.7 kmph in 2022[9:2]

Apr-Aug 2023: Punctuality of mail and express trains came down to 73%, 11% less than same period in FY22[10:1]

7. Superfast trains forced to go slow due to Vande Bharat

Sep 2023: Data shows negative impact of Vande Bharat on other fast trains running on same route[11]

  • Oct 2023: Railways union accused Centre of purposely delaying other trains to claim Vande Bharat Express service is faster[12]

8. Staff shortage a big concern

Mar 2022: Over 3 Lakh posts lie vacant[13]

  • Overwhelming number of applications for vacant posts but recruitment has been slow[13:1]

9. Lower passenger traffic[14]

Passenger traffic in FY23 remained 24% below FY20 level (pre-pandemic)

REFERENCES:

  1. https://www.financialexpress.com/business/railways-shift-in-indian-railways-passenger-trends-95-3-per-cent-travellers-opted-for-non-ac-classes-between-april-october-3308416/ ↩︎

  2. https://www.thenewsminute.com/voices/opinion-decreasing-sleeper-berths-on-trains-is-hurting-migrant-workers ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/passengers-slam-central-rly-move-to-cut-sleeper-increase-ac-coaches/articleshow/101120799.cms ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  4. https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/did-railways-really-reduce-sleeper-coaches-in-trains-false-says-ashwini-vaishnaw-101700154390576.html ↩︎

  5. https://scroll.in/article/1059269/why-the-indian-railways-is-on-the-brink ↩︎ ↩︎

  6. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/what-is-the-status-of-kavach-installations-explained/article67498761.ece ↩︎

  7. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/logistics/no-new-kavach-lines-commissioned-till-oct-31-railways-performance-report/article67579827.ece ↩︎

  8. https://thewire.in/government/five-reasons-according-to-reports-why-the-indian-railways-have-gone-off-track ↩︎

  9. https://www.business-standard.com/india-news/passenger-trains-in-india-are-getting-slower-and-your-trips-longer-123111500536_1.html ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  10. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/railways/punctuality-of-mail-and-express-trains-drops-now-one-in-every-four-trains-running-late/articleshow/102936795.cms?from=mdr ↩︎ ↩︎

  11. https://www.newindianexpress.com/tamil-nadu/2023/Sep/30/as-vande-bharat-chugs-in-superfasts-go-slow-2619520.html ↩︎

  12. https://www.newsclick.in/vande-bharat-express-kerala-disrupts-schedule-general-commuters-other-trains ↩︎

  13. https://www.newsclick.in/Push-Towards-Privatisation-Shortage-Staff-Poor-State-Indian-Railways ↩︎ ↩︎

  14. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/railways/three-years-on-indian-railways-passenger-traffic-remains-below-pre-pandemic-numbers/articleshow/99458137.cms ↩︎

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