Question : Decline in Passenger and Freight Business

(a) whether the Railways is facing stiff competition from road transport and thus its share in passenger and goods traffic is declining;

(b) if so, the percentage of share in passenger and freight transport of railways in the country;

(c) whether the competition with road transport is growing in intensity, both in passenger and in goods transport and the lack of coordination between railways and road transport has lowered the earning capacity of the railways and if so, the facts thereof;

(d) whether people are moving away from railways on long distance routes and in local routes, metros and buses are giving stiff competition due to their superior comfort and speed causing massive losses and if so, the details thereof;

(e) whether the Government has sketched any plan to find out the responsible causes for declining passenger share of railways and to attract more passenger and freight business for the railways; and
(f) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

(a) to (f) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (f) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5370 BY DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE, SHRI ADHALRAO PATIL SHIVAJIRAO, SHRI ANANDRAO ADSUL AND SHRI VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 28.03.2018 REGARDING DECLINE IN PASSENGER AND FREIGHT BUSINESS

(a) to (d) The total transport system study carried out by RITES for the erstwhile Planning Commission in 2010 had estimated that Railways’ share in the inter-regional freight traffic came down from 89% in 1951 to 30% in 2007-08. In passenger traffic also, road was the dominant mode, although precise model shares were not indicated.
The primary reason for decline of Railways’ share is capacity constraints due to accumulated backlog in investment in capacity. Capacity bottlenecks have resulted in non-realization of the maximum potential of Railways as well as deterioration in punctuality and transit times of railway traffic.
(e) & (f) Yes, Madam. Capital expenditure in Railways’ capacity enhancement has been greatly scaled up over the last four years. Average Capital Expenditure between 2014-15 and 2017-18 (RE) is ?95132.22 Cr. compared to ?45979.66 Cr. over 2009-10 to 2013-14. Other measures to attract and increase Railway traffic includes:
Freight Segment:
i. Liberalised Automatic Freight Rebate scheme for traffic loaded in empty flow direction, Long Term Tariff Contracts (LTTC) with key freight customers, Station to Station rates (STS), withdrawal of Dual freight policy for Iron Ore, Discount on loading of bagged consignment in open and flat wagons, Rationalisation of Coal Tariff, withdrawal of Port Congestion Charge, Rationalisation of Merry-Go-Round (MGR) system, Re-introduction of Short Lead Concession and reduction of minimum distance for charge from 125 km to 100 km, Distance increased for mini rake from 400 km to 600 km, Proliferation of Roll-on Roll-off (RORO) services, de-notification of 44 additional commodities for charging at FAK rates, withdrawal of congestion charge for stone traffic transported from Eastern Railway to Bangladesh via Darsana/ Benapole.
ii. To increase rail traffic, Indian Railways have introduced various schemes like Liberalized Wagon Investment Scheme, Wagon Leasing Scheme, Special Freight Train Operators Scheme (SFTO), Automobile Freight Train Operator Scheme (AFTO), development of Private Freight Terminals (PFT).
iii. Time-tabled trains for running of automobiles rakes with a view to provide time-bound delivery of the automobiles traffic, time-table for each circuit has been chalked out and circulated to the zonal railways with advice to run the auto rake as per scheduled time-table.
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iv. Use of extensive computerization in freight operation to improve monitoring and to improve utilization of assets, Deployment of higher capacity locomotives and higher capacity wagons, Improvement in maintenance practices of wagons and locomotives resulting in increased availability of rolling stock for traffic, Improvement in track and signaling to carry the higher volume of traffic, Training staff and officers to adopt the new technology and management practices.
v. Two Dedicated Freight Corridors (Western & Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridors) have been taken up to create adequate capacity, which is essential requirement to cater the traffic demand and improve quality of service.
vi. Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed rail corridor has been taken up with assistance of Government of Japan to usher in high speed rail travel in country.
Passenger Segment:
i. Augmentation of on-board capacity by attachment of additional coaches, running of special trains during festivals and holidays, running of Suvidha trains etc.
ii. Organising intensive ticket checking drives including fortress checks etc.
iii. Augmentation of ticket selling capacity through operation of Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVM), ticket booking through mobile phones, utilizing the services of ticketing agents like Jan Sadharan Ticket Booking Sewaks (JTBS), Station Ticket Booking Agents (STBA), Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendra (YTSK) etc.
iv. Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme (ATAS) known as VIKALP has been introduced to provide confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers and also to ensure optimal utilization of available accommodation.
v. The number of RAC berths has been increased to provide additional accommodation to the passengers.
vi. A provision has been made in the Computerized Passenger Reservation System (PRS) to transfer vacant available accommodation after preparation of second reservation chart to next remote location to enable optimum utilization of available accommodation.
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