Memoranda for Submission to the Chief Ministers of the Two Telugu States.

Articles

Railway Fares and Finances

Dt:  23/6/14

 

Railway Fares and Finances

 

Dr T.H.Chowdary*

 

The truth  that the  passenger operations of the  Indian Railways are making losses is widely known. Despite periodical increases in  railway   fares. the deficit does not  disappear.   Many trains are  described as Superfast Expresses and high  rates are  charged for travel by such  trains.  Almost invariably every one of them  is always   late from  30 mnts to a few hours.  The explanation (and of course, it is a fact) is that in many big stations like Secunderabad there are  not enough platforms to receive the trains and therefore they are halted in the  outskirts for long periods even if they had covered the  long  distance in good time.  An obvious solution  is to have  many terminations around  the city centres. For example, in Hyderabad  Moulali,  Falaknama, Lingampally could be other terminations.  From there  the railways can run buses to the  city centers,  just like from and to the  airports.   There was indeed a time when Indian Airlines ( it was then a monopoly) used to collect its  passengers from different locations  in the  city (e g. Connaught Place in Delhi...)

 

2.  There is talk of  “premium” trains, faster than superfast expresses and  with more  comfort.  Fares for them would be vying with air-fares. Since people pay for fastness and  so reduced travel time, railways must return a certain  percentage of the  fare charged, if such trains are delayed; the refund may be  related to the  delay. This obligation will impose discipline and responsibility in the  Railways.  German Railways seem to be doing so.  Such an obligation must also be imposed  on the  Airlines too.

 

3. It is not necessary that  railways should  run the  passenger trains  on a monopoly basis. The rail track and the control systems can be the infrastructure.   Private  companies  can be  permitted to compete with one another by using the  rail tack and   control systems. This is exactly like in civil  aviation where  the  airports and the control systems  are owned  by an enterprise of the  government and  several  private companies fly passengers in competition

 

with one  another.  For using the infrastructure of   tracks and  control  system and platforms the competing companies must give a share of their revenue to the owner of the infrastructure.  The private  companies may also be  permitted to open separate  terminals outside the city centers and transport their customers to the  city centers by busses.  The UK and  Italy have been  permitting  competitive  operation of passenger  trains on the state -owned infrastructure of  rail tracks and control systems. 

 

4.  In 1951,  the first year of our planned economy about 80% of the goods  transportation in our country was by rail. It has now come down to less than 30%  because  of the  delays,  uncertainty and bad quality of  service from the Railways.  The transportation of  goods by road  is inefficient but is becoming  unavoidable because  of the  inefficiency, insufficiency and poor quality of service of the railways.  It  is a national loss that such a high percentage  of goods is transported by road which means consumption  of  liquid and gas fuels,  80% of our requirement of which we are importing from abroad.  We must emulate China and  Japan which have  built and are still building extraordinarily fast and  safe  rail transportation systems. 

 

5. Accidents on railways are becoming  too frequent and the  disabled and  dead are  having their  families paid very increasing amounts  by way of compassion or compensation.  Accidents are happening  because of   inadequate and proper signalling safety and control  equipment. The coaches are  ageing.  Many require  replacement.   In 1978, government  appointed the  Js. H.R Khanna Commission  which among  others, recommended that Members of the  Railway Board and Heads of Departments  must be  personally held  responsible for the accidents. In the year 2010 the  Anil Kakodkar Commission  recommended  an investment  of Rs.1 lakh cr to improve the safety   on railways. The Pitroda  Commission there after recommended that the  modernisation  of the   Railways should be immediately  taken up and estimated  the cost at Rs. 5 lakh crores. Commissions and Committees  reports are piling but hardly   any improvement is  forthcoming  because of  inadequate  investment and resolve. The Railways cannot  generate these resources. Corruption  is rampant.  One  senior railway  officer paid  Rs. 10 cr as  bribe  to   have an appointment as  Member (Electrical) of the Railway  Board instead of Member (Staff).  When this was discovered,  he did not want  promotion at all as  he was finding his present position as   GM of a Zonal  Railway more remunerative than as  Member  (staff) of the Railway  Board.  Just as  the lack of  enough telephone services and poor quality of service could be  ended only by ending the government monopoly and introducing competition from private sector companies under  proper regulation,  improvement in so essential  a service  like Railways can come about  only by determined  privatisation of the   passenger  and goods services   utilising the same  railway  tracks and also laying new dedicated rail lines in certain sections  for fast movement of  goods   and oil and coal and other minerals. (832 words)

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