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Chapter: 3

Profile of Indian Railways Service sector plays a vital role in the process of economic

development. It is a well documented observation in economic history

that the share of services1 in national product tends to dominate once

the economy reaches a certain stage of development (Fisher (1935,

1939), Clark (1957). Analysis of services such as defence and public

administration is extremely difficult, as these are considered to be pure

public goods. In case of certain other services like insurance,

communications, health, trade etc., there are difficulties in

conceptualization and measurement of price. However, for some

services like transport, the conceptual and measurement problems can

be overcome. These services also form a vital component of the

economy‘s infrastructure (Sailaja, 1988) and railways are one such

organization. The journey of railways in Indian sub-continent started

modestly in 1853 with 34 kilometers (kms). Iron wheels rolled on rails on

16th April, 1853, where the first-ever train, with a capital of Rs 3.8

million, carrying 400 people in 14 carriages, covered the 21-mile

distance in about 75 minutes from Bombay to Thane (Sailaja, 1988,

Alivelu, 2006). By 1950, India had a net-work of about 34,000 miles. In

1948, immediately after Independence, there were as many as 42

different railway systems consisting of 13 Class I Railways, 10 class II

Railways and 19 class III Railways. The class of a Railway is fixed

depending on gross earnings. The major task for the Indian Railways

(IR) is to integrate the above mentioned divided railway system of the

sub-continent such as princely state railways, state owned railways and

to bring them under one management.

The Railway Board in 1950 decided for the regrouping of the

Indian Railways into six zonal systems, namely, the Northern, the North

Eastern, the Southern, the Central, the Eastern and the Western

80

Railways. The unequal distributions of workload on some of the railways

have led to further bifurcation of zones. Eastern Railway was split into

two zones, namely, Eastern Railway and South Eastern Railway.

Similarly, North Eastern Zone was split into North Eastern Railway and

Northeast Frontier Railway. Thus, by the year 1958, there were eight

zones on Indian Railways.

The functioning of the new zones continued to be watched

closely, and based on regular analysis of their working, minor

adjustments are carried out wherever necessary, with a view to improve

their utility and efficiency. Particularly close watch is kept on the rapidly

increasing workloads of some of the new zones, in order to provide

relief and streamline their operation. The formation of South Central

Railway in 1966 as the ninth zone, in order to improve the services for

the southern parts of India, is made with some marginal adjustments

from Southern and Central Railways. Carving out of South Central

Railway has resulted in stability in the zonal formations at least for little

more than three decades in the history of Indian Railway. In order to

bring about greater efficiency in administration, speedy implementation

of the on-going projects, better customer care, reduction of work load on

the administrators of each zone, Indian Railways have decided to create

seven new zones by territorial re-adjustment of existing zones. Thus, IR

has been reorganized into sixteen railway zones by adding seven new

zones to the already existing nine zones.

Five Year Plans from 1950 onwards threw up enormous

challenges to the railways for playing a key role in the industrial and all

round development of the Indian economy. Thus, what started as a

system to the interests of the foreign masters has in the last hundred

and sixty three years, developed into a significant means of

transportation for socio-economic development of a welfare society like

India. According to Dr Michael J T Lewis, the eminent scholar of early

81

railways, it is ‗a prepared track which so guides the wheels of the

vehicles running on it that they cannot leave the track‘ (Lewis 1974).

This definition has the merit of technical simplicity and thus embraces

many kinds of transport systems apart from those conventionally known

as railways; wheels need not be a feature. But for our purposes the real

advantage of the definition is that in referring to a prepared track it

draws attention to the fact that railways are built with a specific purpose

in mind. That purpose may vary from system to system, but the principle

remains the same – a railway is a linear transport feature, the rest is

detail. By the standards of most modern industries railways have

unusually deep historical roots.

Railways that fit Lewis‘s definition existed as far back as the 6th

century BC; the Greek Diolkos was a railway with a track made from

stone, 6km in length across the Peloponnese, used for transporting

ships until the 9th century AD – an extraordinarily long period. Works

such as Agricola‘s De Re Metallica date the extensive use of railways

with wooden rails and vehicles to around the 15th century. Although of

great technical interest, individual systems had short lives and were of

no significance as anything other than adjuncts to the mining industries.

By the 18th century, however, wooden railways began to be used for

larger loads and more diverse purposes. Railways developed from mine

tracks where people pushed four-wheel trucks of coal, stone, or ore into

longer and more complex lines with large wagons and horse haulage.

Late in the same century, the change was made in many places to iron

rails and wheels. Wooden and stone railways did not immediately

disappear, however; indeed, in Britain, the Hay Tor Tramroad was built

with stone ‗rails‘ at the late date of 1820. Leaving aside these very early

lines, we can date the mechanically worked railway to the first two

decades of 19th century England and Wales. These short isolated

routes, just a few miles (or kilometers) long, were still usually conceived,

82

financed, built, and operated with the needs of a small number of

extractive and primary industries in mind. They shared little beyond a

very basic technical similarity with today‘s railways. However, they

rapidly developed in length, volume of traffic, technical sophistication,

and financial and managerial requirements.

The place of the railway in the history of industrialization is

assured. Economic historians might disagree over the precise

contribution that railways made to economic growth in the industrializing

nations of the 19th century, but all recognize the steam railways‘ critical

role as the dominant form of inland transport for any but the shortest of

journeys (Szostak 1991; Ville 1990). Railways rapidly developed as the

largest and most complex examples of socio-technical systems that the

world had known: the political, financial, business, and managerial

structures that developed to meet their novel requirements later

influenced the growth of large-scale corporate business, particularly –

but by no means exclusively – in the USA (Dobbin 1994; Chandler

1990) The railways‘ advantages of speed, capacity, and economy made

them more than mere instruments of industrial and business

development, however. Culturally their impact was huge. In particular

the sensibilities of societies that had never known travel at speeds

above that of a galloping horse were irrevocably changed by the coming

of steam locomotion. In Europe and the USA, the railway came rapidly

to stand at the very focus of that mixed feeling of awe, wonderment and

apprehension that historians have called the ‗technological sublime‘

(Nye 1994; Wosk 1992; Danley & Marx 1990; Schivelbusch 1986).

Indian railway is the largest railway network under a single management

in the world. As on December, 2006-07, it has Pkm of nearly 63465

kms, an operating fleet of 37119 coaches and 7981 locomotives. Nearly

1484 million passengers were booked daily and 518.74 million tons of

83

revenue earning freight traffic loaded during the first three quarters of

the year (Year Book, 2007).

Indian railway network is consisting of broad, meter and narrow

gauges. The route length has been divided into different zones. There

are 9 zones for operation of the Indian railway system. These zones

are called Central, Eastern, Northern, North-Eastern, North-East

Frontier, Southern, South-Central, South-Eastern, and Western. The

route length has been reported highest in case of Northern Railway

followed by Western Railway. Since, the study is confined to the Central

Railway and therefore a brief detail of Central Railway is imperative.

The Central Railway is important in the history of Indian railways. The

first train ever to run on the Indian soil rolled out on 16th April, 1853

under the aegis of Greater Indian Peninsula Railway. It was a single

step of 34 kms. from Boribandar (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) to

Tannah (Thane), which change the history of India for ever. The Central

Railway with its vast network of 3832 route kilometers connecting 476

stations over 5 divisions (Bhusawal, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune and

Sholapur). Spanning across the states of Maharashtra, Madhya

Pradesh and Karnataka plays a key role in the progress of nation as a

carrier of passengers and freight traffic (Railways Year Book, 2007).

The organizational structure of Indian Railway is shown in

Chart 3.1. Indian Railways falls under the Ministry of Railways. The

Ministry comprises of Railway Board with Chairman and Members for

electrical, staff, engineering, mechanical, traffic besides the provisions

for Financial Commissioner. Director-General-Health and RPF are also

performing their responsibilities. There are two secretaries responsible

for managing establishment and administration pertaining to Indian

Railways.

84

Chart: 3.1

85

Railway Zones:

Indian Railways is divided into several zones, which are further

sub-divided into divisions. The number of zones in Indian Railways

increased from six to eight in 1951, nine in 1952 and sixteen in 2003.

Each zonal railway is made up of a certain number of divisions, each

having a divisional headquarters. There are a total of sixty-eight

divisions.

Each of the sixteen zones is headed by a General Manager (GM)

who reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided

into divisions under the control of Divisional Railway Managers (DRM).

The divisional officers of engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and

telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial,

security and safety branches report to the respective Divisional

Manager and are in charge of operation and maintenance of assets.

Further down the hierarchy tree are the Station Masters who control

individual stations and the train movement through the track territory

under their stations' administration. Zonal-wise details of Indian

Railways are shown in Table 3.1.

Table: 3.1

Zonal Railways Details

Sl. No

Name Date Established

Route km

Headquarters Divisions

1. Central 05-11-1951 3905 Mumbai Mumbai, Bhusawal, Pune, Solapur, Nagpur

2. East Central

01-10-2002 3628 Hajipur Danapur, Dhanbad, Mughalsarai, Samastipur, Sonpur

3. East Coast 01-04-2003 2677 Bhubaneswar Khurda Road, Sambalpur and Waltair (Visakhapatnam)

4. Eastern 04-1952 2414 Kolkata Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol, Malda

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5. North Central

01-04-2003 3151 Allahabad Allahabad, Agra, Jhansi

6. North Eastern

1952 3667 Gorakhpur Izzatnagar, Lucknow, Varanasi

7. North Western

01-10-2002 5459 Jaipur Jaipur, Ajmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur

8. Northeast Frontier

15-01-1958 3907 Guwahati Alipurduar, Katihar, Rangia, Lumding, Tinsukia

9. Northern 14-04-1952 6968 Delhi Delhi, Ambala, Firozpur, Lucknow, Moradabad

10. South Central

02-10-1966 5803 Secunderabad Vijayawada, Hyderabad, Guntakal, Guntur, Nanded, Secunderabad

11. South East Central

01-04-2003 2447 Bilaspur Bilaspur, Raipur, Nagpur

12. South Eastern

1955 2631 Kolkata Adra, Chakradharpur, Kharagpur, Ranchi,

13. South Western

01-04-2003 3177 Hubli Hubli, Bangalore, Mysore

14. Southern 14-04-1951 5098 Chennai Chennai, Trichy, Madurai, Salem,

[12] Palakkad,

Thiruvananthapuram

15. West Central

01-04-2003 2965 Jabalpur Jabalpur, Bhopal, Kota

16. Western 05-11-1951 6182 Mumbai Mumbai Central, Ratlam, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Vadodara

17. Metro Railway, Kolkata

31-12-2010 26 Kolkata -

Total 64105

Source: Indian Railways.

Indian Railways manufactures much of its rolling stock and heavy

engineering components at its six manufacturing plants, called

Production Units, which are managed directly by the Ministry. Popular

rolling stock builders such as CLW and DLW for electric and diesel

locomotives; ICF and RCF for passenger coaches are Production Units

87

of Indian Railways. Over the years, Indian Railways has not only

achieved self-sufficiency in production of rolling stock in the country but

also exported rolling stock to other countries. Each of these six

production units is headed by a General Manager, who also reports

directly to the Railway Board. The production units of Indian Railways

are shown in Table 3.2.

Table: 3.2

Production Units of Indian Railways

Sl. No

Name Year Established

Location Main products

1. Golden Rock Locomotive Workshops

1928 Trichy Diesel-electric Locomotives

2. Chittaranjan Locomotive Works

1947 Chittaranjan, Asansol

Electric Locomotives

3. Diesel Locomotive Works

1961 Varanasi Diesel Locomotives

4. Diesel-Loco Modernisation Works

1981 Patiala Diesel-electric Locomotives

5. Integral Coach Factory

1952 Chennai Passenger coaches

6. Rail Coach Factory 1986 Kapurthala Passenger coaches

7. Rail Spring Karkhana

1988 Gwalior Passenger coach springs

8. Rail Wheel Factory 1984 Bangalore Railway wheels and axles

9. Rail Wheel Factory 2012 Chhapra Railway wheels

10. Rail Coach Factory, Raebareli

2012 Raebareli Passenger coaches

Source: Indian Railways.

88

Subsidiaries of Indian Railways:

There also exist independent organizations under the control of

the Railway Board for electrification, modernization, research and

design and training of officers, each of which is headed by an officer of

the rank of General Manager. A number of Public Sector Undertakings,

which perform railway-related functions ranging from consultancy to

ticketing, are also under the administrative control of the Ministry of

railways.

There are eleven public undertakings under the administrative

control of the Ministry of Railways, viz.

Bharat Wagon and Engineering Co. Ltd.

Centre for Railway Information Systems

Container Corporation of India Limited

Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited

Indian Railway Construction (IRCON) International Limited

Indian Railway Finance Corporation Limited

Konkan Railway Corporation Limited

Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation

Railtel Corporation of India Limited

Rail India Technical and Economic Services Limited

Rail Vikas Nigam Limited

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited, that has constructed and

operates Delhi Metro network, is an independent organisation not

connected to the Indian Railways. Similar metro rail corporations in

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other cities (except Kolkata Metro in Kolkata) are not connected to the

Indian Railways.

Goods Wagons or Freight Cars:

The number of freight car or goods wagons was 205,596 on 31

March 1951 and reached the maximum number 405,183 on 31 March

1980 after which it started declining and was 219,931 on 31 March

2010. The number is far shorter than the requirement and the Indian

Railways keeps losing freight traffic to road. Indian Railways carried 93

million tonnes of goods in 1950-51 and it increased to 892 tonnes in

2009-10. However, its share in goods traffic is much lower than road

traffic. In 1951, its share was 65 per cent and the share of road was 35

per cent. Now the shares have been reversed and the share of railways

has declined to 30 per cent and the share of road has increased to 70

per cent.

Passenger Coaches:

Indian Railways have several types of passenger coaches.

Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) coaches are used for suburban traffic in

large cities - mainly Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad

and Bangalore. These coaches numbered 7,474 on 31 March 2010.

They have second class and first class seating accommodation.

Passenger coaches numbered 43,518 on 31 March 2010. Other

coaches (luggage coach, parcel van, guard's coach, mail coach, etc.)

numbered 6,505 on 31 March 2010. There has been increasing trend in

number of passenger coaches and their capacity. During 1950-51, there

were 460 EMU coaches and 13109 conventional coaches which

increased to 7334 and 45123, respectively during 2010-11. The sitting

capacity has also grown manifold (Table 3.3).

90

Table: 3.3

Passengers Coaches

Year EMU Coaches Conventional Coaches

DMU/DHMU Other Coaching Vehicles

(Number+) Number Capacity Number Seating Capacity

Number Seating Capacity

1950-51 460 87986 13109 854678 -- -- 6059

1960-61 846 150854 20178 1280797 -- -- 7415

1970-71 1750 340541 24676 1505047 -- -- 8719

1980--81 2625 500607 27478 1695127 -- -- 8230

1990-91 3142 609042 28701 1864136 -- -- 6668

2000-01 4526 859701 33258 2372729 142 13884 4731

2007-08 5877 1173622 40734 2994206 764 66172 6180

2008-09 6228 1195197 42117 3114691 743 69834 5985

2009-10 6785 1215764 43563 3177642 722 70950 6477

2010-11 7334 1366852 45123 4289395 763 74934 6493

Source: Indian Railways, Year Book, 2010-11.

Rolling stock of Indian Railways has significantly increased

however; there has been drastic decline in number of steam

locomotives and phenomenon growth in diesel and electric locomotives.

During 2010-11, there were only 43 steam locomotives, 5137 diesel

locomotives and 4033 electric trains (Table 3.4).

Table: 3.4

Rolling Stock of Indian Railways

Year Number of Locomotives Tractive Effort Per Loco (In kgs.)

Steam Diesel Electric Total B.G. M.G.

1950-51 8120 17 72 8209 12801 7497

1960-61 10312 181 131 10624 14733 8201

1970-71 9387 1169 602 11158 17303 9607

1980--81 7469 2403 1036 10908 19848 10429

91

1990-91 2915 3759 1743 8417 24088 12438

2000-01 54 4702 2810 7566 29203 18438

2007-08 44 4843 3443 8330 32638 18496

2008-09 43 4964 3586 8593 33499 18452

2009-10 42 5022 3825 8889 33665 18378

2010-11 43 5137 4033 9213 34380 18304

Source: Indian Railways, Year Book, 2010-11.

Freight:

Indian Railways earns about 70 per cent of its revenues from the

freight traffic (Rs.686.2 billion from freight and Rs.304.6 billion from

passengers in 2011-12). Most of its profits come from movement of

freight. It makes a loss on passenger traffic. It deliberately keeps its

passenger fares low and cross-subsidizes the loss-making passenger

traffic with the profit-making freight traffic. Since the 1990s, Indian

Railways has stopped single-wagon consignments and provides only

full rake freight trains for goods. Most of its freight earnings come from

movement of bulk goods such as coal, cement, food grains and iron ore

in full rakes. It is continually losing freight traffic to road.

Track and Gauge:

Indian railways uses four gauges, the 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad

gauge which is wider than the 1,435 mm (4 ft 81⁄2 in) standard gauge;

the 1,000 mm (3 ft 33⁄8 in) metre gauge; and two narrow gauges,

762 mm (2 ft 6 in) and 610 mm (2 ft). Track sections are rated for

speeds ranging from 75 to 160 km/h (47 to 99 mph). The total length of

track used by Indian Railways is about 115,000 km (71,000 mi) while

the total route length of the network is 65,000 km (40,000 mi). About

22,224 km (13,809 mi) or 34 per cent of the route-kilometre was

electrified as on 31 March 2012. Broad gauge is the predominant gauge

used by Indian Railways. Indian broad gauge—1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in)—is

the most widely used gauge in India with 105,000 km (65,000 mi) of

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track length (91 per cent of entire track length of all the gauges) and

56,000 km (35,000 mi) of route-kilometre (86 per cent of entire route-

kilometre of all the gauges). In some regions with less traffic, the metre

gauge (1,000 mm/3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) is common, although the Unigauge project

is in progress to convert all tracks to broad gauge. The metre gauge has

about 8,000 km (5,000 mi) of track length (7 per cent of entire track

length of all the gauges) and 7,000 km (4,300 mi) of route-kilometre (10

per cent of entire route-kilometre of all the gauges). The Narrow gauges

are present on a few routes, lying in hilly terrains and in some erstwhile

private railways (on cost considerations), which are usually difficult to

convert to broad gauge. Narrow gauges have 2,000 route-kilometre.

The Kalka-Shimla Railway, the Kangra Valley Railway and the

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway are three notable hill lines that use

narrow gauge, but the Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a metre gauge track.

These four rail lines will not be converted under the Unigauge project.

The share of broad gauge in the total route-kilometre has been steadily

rising, increasing from 47 per cent (25,258 route-km) in 1951 to 86 per

cent in 2012 whereas the share of metre gauge has declined from 45

per cent (24,185 route-km) to 10 per cent in the same period and the

share of narrow gauges has decreased from 8 per cent to 3 per cent.

However, the total route-kilometre has increased by only 21 per cent (by

just 11,500 km from 53,596 route-km in 1951) in the last sixty years or

about 200 km per year. This compares very poorly with Chinese

railways, which increased from about 27,000 route-km at the end of

Second World War to about 100,000 route-km in 2011, an increase of

more than threefold. More than 28,000 route-km (34 per cent of the total

route-km) of Chinese railway is electrified compared to only about

21,500 route-km of Indian railways.

Sleepers (ties) are made up of prestressed concrete, or steel or

cast iron posts, though teak sleepers are still in use on a few older lines.

93

The prestressed concrete sleeper is in wide use today. Metal sleepers

were extensively used before the advent of concrete sleepers. Indian

Railways divides the country into four zones on the basis of the range of

track temperature. The greatest temperature variations occur in

Rajasthan.

During 2010-11, the total track of Indian Railways was reported to

be 64460. There has been only 20.27 per cent growth in total track of

Indian Railways during 1950-51 to 2010-11. However, the proportion of

electrified route has increased to 30.42 per cent in 2010-11 while it was

only 0.72 per cent in 1950-51. The running tracks have been reported

higher than total route. Out of total running tracks, about 2/5th track was

reported to be electrified in 2010-11 (Table 3.5).

Table: 3.5

Track and Bridges

Year Route Kms. Running Tracks Kms. Total Track Kms.

Electrified Total Electrified Total Electrified Total

1950-51 388 53596 937 59315 1253 77609

1960-61 748 56247 1752 63602 2259 83706

1970-71 3706 59790 7447 71669 9586 98546

1980--81 5345 61240 10474 75860 13448 104480

1990-91 9968 62367 18954 78607 25305 108858

2000-01 14856 63028 27937 81865 36950 108706

2007-08 18274 63273 34700 85158 47296 111599

2008-09 18559 64015 35471 86937 47862 113115

2009-10 18927 63974 35811 87087 48639 113617

2010-11 19607 64460 36000 87040 49489 113993

Source: Indian Railways, Year Book, 2010-11.

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Electrification of railway tracks is shown in Table 3.6. There has

been increasing trend of electrification of track in India during 1980-81,

only 8.73 per cent railway route was electrified which increased

significantly to 30.41 per cent in 2010-11.

Table: 3.6

Electrification of Railway Track

Year Total Route (Km.)

Route Kms. Electrified

Percentage of Electrified to Total

Route Kms.

1980-81 61240 5345 8.73

1990-91 62367 9968 15.98

2000-01 63028 14856 23.57

2009-10 63974 18927 29.59

2010-11 64460 19607 30.41

Source: Indian Railway, Facts & Figures, 2010-11.

Types of Passenger Services:

Trains are classified by their average speed. A faster train has

fewer stops ("halts") than a slower one and usually caters to long-

distance travel. Indian Railways has introduced high speed trains such

as Duronto, Rajdhani, Shatabdi, and Super Fast trains besides

introducing Jan Shatabdi and Garib Rath for the poor who cannot afford

luxurious trains. These trains are connecting state capital to national

capital for improving the traffic mobility of common man. Indian

Railways has also introduced tourists and special trains for the

international and domestic tourists. Some of the trains are not cost

effective however, they are contributing significantly in preserving the

national heritage and promotion of tourism. (Table 3.7).

95

Table: 3.7

Classification of Trains

Rank Train Description

1 Duronto Express

These are the non-stop (except for operational stops) point to point rail services introduced for the first time in 2009. They connect the metros and major state capitals of India and are faster than Rajdhani Express. They provide first

AC, two-tier AC and three-tier AC accommodation. Some of them provide Sleeper Class accommodation.

2 Rajdhani Express

These are air-conditioned trains linking major cities to New Delhi. They have high priority and are one of the fastest trains in India, travelling at about 130 km/h (82 mph). They have only a few stops.

3 Shatabdi Express

The Shatabdi trains are air-conditioned intercity trains for

travel during day. They have seats and executive class seats. Some of them 3-tier AC berths. They are the fastest trains in India, travelling at about 160 km/h.

4 Garib Rath Air-conditioned no-frills trains with seats and 3-tier Economy AC berths. The maximum speed is 130 km/h.

5 Jan Shatabdi Express

Jan Shatabdi Express are a more affordable variety of the Shatabdi Express, which have both AC and non-AC

classes. The maximum speed is 130 km/h.

6 Intercity Superfast Express/Mail

These are trains that have an average speed greater than 80 km/h (34 mph). Tickets for these trains have an additional superfast surcharge.

7 Express These are the most common kind of trains in India. They have more stops than their super-fast counterparts, but they stop only at relatively important intermediate stations.

8 Passenger and Fast Passenger

These are slow trains that stop at most stations along the route and are the cheapest trains. The trains generally have unreserved seating accommodation but some night trains have sleeper and 3-tier AC compartments.

9 Suburban trains

These trains operate in the urban areas of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and between Kanpur & Lucknow, usually stop at all stations and have unreserved seating accommodation.

10 Metros and Monorails

These trains are designed for city transport in metro cities of India.

Source: Indian Railways.

96

Accommodation Classes:

Indian Railways has several classes of travel with or without air-

conditioning. A train may have just one or many classes of travel. Slow

passenger trains have only unreserved seating class whereas Rajdhani,

Duronto and Shatabdi trains have only air-conditioned classes. The

fares for all classes are different with unreserved seating class being

the cheapest. The fare of Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains

includes food served in the train but the fare for other trains does not

include food that has to be bought separately. In long-distance trains a

pantry car is usually included and food is served at the berth or seats

itself. Luxury trains such as Palace on Wheels have separate dining

cars but these trains cost as much as or more than a five-star hotel

room. A standard passenger rake generally has four unreserved (also

called "general") compartments, two at the front and two at the end, of

which one may be exclusively for ladies. The exact number of other

coaches varies according to the demand and the route. A luggage

compartment can also exist at the front or the back. In some mail trains

a separate mail coach is attached. Lavatories are communal and

feature both the Indian style as well as the Western style.

Indian Railway offers different classes of transport facility such as

High Class AC, Second Class AC, Third Class AC, Sleepers and

General Coaches for the passengers. Some of the trains have common

classes of high class and AC Second Class as there is low possibility of

passengers. The high speed trains such as Duronto, AC Special,

Rajdhani, Garib Rath, Shatabdi, etc. have only AC Classes as they are

targeted for high class passengers only (Table 3.8).

97

Table: 3.8

Classes of Operation

Class Description

1A First class AC: This is the most expensive class, where the fares are almost at par with air fare. There are eight cabins (including two coupes) in the full AC First Class coach and three cabins (including one coupe) in the half AC First Class coach. The coach has an attendant to help the passengers. Bedding is included with the fare in IR. This air conditioned coach is present only on popular routes and can carry 18 passengers (full coach) or 10 passengers (half coach). The sleeper berths are extremely wide and spacious. The coaches are carpeted, have sleeping accommodation and have privacy features like personal coupes. This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.

2A AC-Two tier: These air-conditioned coaches have sleeping berths across eight bays. Berths are usually arranged in two tiers in bays of six, four across the width of the coach and two berths long ways on the other side of the corridor, with curtains along the gangway or corridor. Bedding is included with the fare. A broad gauge coach can carry 48 passengers (full coach) or 20 passengers (half coach). This class is available on broad gauge and metre gauge trains.

FC First class: Same as 1AC but without air conditioning. No bedding is available in this class. The berths are wide and spacious. There is a coach attendant to help the passengers. This class has been phased out on most of the trains and is rare to find. However narrow gauge trains to hill stations have this class.

3A AC three tier: Air conditioned coaches with 64 sleeping berths. Berths are usually arranged as in 2AC but with three tiers across the width and two long ways as before giving eight bays of eight. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is included with fare. It carries 64 passengers in broad gauge. This class is available only on broad gauge.

3E AC three tier (Economy): Air conditioned coaches with sleeping berths, present in Garib Rath Trains. Berths are usually arranged as in 3AC but with three tiers across the width and three long ways. They are slightly less well-appointed, usually no reading lights or curtained off gangways. Bedding is not included with fare.

CC AC chair car: An air-conditioned seater coach with a total of five seats in a row used for day travel between cities.

EC Executive class chair car: An air-conditioned coach with large spacious seats and legroom. It has a total of four seats in a row used for day travel between cities. This class of travel is only available on Shatabdi Express trains.

SL Sleeper class: The sleeper class is the most common coach on IR, and usually ten or more coaches could be attached. These are regular sleeping coaches with three berths vertically stacked. In broad gauge, it carries 72 passengers per coach.

2S Seater class: same as AC Chair car, but with bench style seats and without the air-conditioning. These may be reserved in advance or may be unreserved.

UR Unreserved: The cheapest accommodation. The seats are usually made up of pressed wood in older coaches but cushioned seats are found in new coaches. These coaches are usually over-crowded and a seat is not guaranteed. Tickets are issued in advance for a minimum journey of more than 24 hours. Tickets issued are valid on any train on the same route if boarded within 24 hours of buying the ticket.

Source: Indian Railways.

98

The Railways era started in India 160 years ago when the first

railway train streamed off Bombay on 16th April, 1853. The destination

was Thane, mere 34 kilo metres away. Since then, during the past 160

years, the Indian Railway system has assumed gigantic proportions and

now ranks the fourth largest in the world after USA, USSR and Canada.

Today, 11,000 trains are scheduled daily to 7,083 stations carrying 2.1

million passengers and 2.54 million trains of freight each day during

2010. The growth of railway network, the problems and the difficulties

faced by it over the decades, its continuous expansion and

development and, above all, its achievements and contribution to the

national economy, especially after India attained Independence in 1947,

are already a golden saga in the history of this country.

Generally speaking, an efficient railway system should strive

towards attainment of objectives such as the following:

To provide a fast, reliable, punctual, reasonably priced and

satisfactory transport services to the people;

To ensure optimum utilization if its assets;

To earn adequate financial returns by increased revenues through

expansion of business;

To control expenditure i.e. the capital cost and the working expenses

of the railway system, so as to reduce the operating ratio to the

minimum;

To be a source of profit to the community as a whole i.e. by declaring

handsome dividends to the Central Exchequer if it is the sole

proprietor of the railway system as in India; and

To serve as a model in the comity of world railways.

Measuring the performance of the Indian Railways by these

objectives, it can be stated that they have amply proved their efficiency

99

over the years in all critical areas, be it fulfilled of the economic plans or

needs of national defence or the industrial upsurge in the country. In

1950-51, the transport scenario was completely different from what it is

today. The share of railways in the total freight transport was much

higher than what it is now. While the total freight ton kilometers handled

by Indian Railways has risen from 44.12 billion in 1950-51 to 230.13

billion in 1988-89 i.e. about 5.2 times, the tones kilometers moved by

the roadways has risen from 5.5 billion in 1950-51 to 238 billion

(approximate) in 1988-89 i.e. by more than 43 times. Similarly in the

passenger traffic also, the share of railways in 1950-51 was 66.52 billion

passenger kilometers as against 31 billion passenger kilometers of

roadways. In 1988-89, the total passenger kilometers handled by

railways were 269.39 billion as against 980 billion (approximate) by

roadways. The growth of passenger traffic during this period has been 4

times in the case of railways as against 32 times in the case of road

transport. This period from 1950-51 to 1988-89 has seen a decline in

the share of the railways in the total freight and passenger traffic and

rapid growth of the road transport system, both goods and passenger.

The Railways‘ share of road-rail goods traffic has shrunk from 89 per

cent to 49 per cent. Over the same period, the percentage of railway

passenger traffic to total rail and road passenger traffic has fallen from

68 to around 22. On the other hand, because of resource constraints,

the railways have not been able to invest as much in the rolling stock,

track renewals, signaling, electrification and other improvements as they

ought to have done. However, in spite of these shortcomings, what has

been achieved by the Indian Railways in these 38 years should make

any railway system proud of its performance. Indian Railways carry one

half of the country‘s freight traffic and one fifth of its passenger traffic,

thereby remaining as one of the important means of transport to the

people.

100

The progress achieved by Indian Railways since Independence is

indeed fascinating. In 1950-51, Indian Railways was just moving 73

million tones of revenue earning freight traffic. During the year under

view, the originating loading of revenue traffic touched a level of 492.5

million tones. Inclusive of departmental traffic, the total loading was a

recorded 522 million tones. Similarly, in respect of passenger traffic, the

number of passengers carried by Indian Railways increased to 5090

million during 2001-02 while it was only 1,284 millions in 1950-51.

Indian Railways has absorbed advancements in technology and has

also become self-sufficient in indigenous manufacture of rolling stock

and other vital stores.

The Ministry functions under the guidance of the Minister of

Railways assisted by two Ministers of State for Railways. The

management and formulation of policy are entrusted with the Railway

Board comprising the Chairman, Financial Commissioner and five

Functional Members. Wide powers are vested in the Board to supervise

effectively and control the Zonal railways, Metro Railway, Kolkata, the

Production Units, Construction Organizations and other Railway

establishments, which are generally headed by General Managers. The

Zones are further divided into 67 operating divisions under Divisional

Railway Managers for better management.

Human Resource Development:

Human Resource Development strategies on Indian Railways

have been reoriented towards enhancing competitiveness in the context

of internal and external changes taking place to meet the challenges

being faced by Indian Railways. In addition to in-house training facilities,

railway men are being provided specialized training in institutions in

India and abroad. Railway employees are also encouraged to improve

their knowledge and skills by acquiring higher educational qualifications

101

in the specified areas relevant to their work by granting incentives to

them. Efforts are being made to improve the basic infrastructure for

training to provide structure training programme in better learning

environment. Manpower planning system has been redesigned to

regulate manpower intake with reference to emerging business needs

and financial viability of the system.

The following six Centralized Training Institutes (CTs) cater to the

training needs of Railway Officers:

Railway Staff College, Vadora

Indian Railways Institute of Civil Engineering, Pune

Indian Railways Institute of Signal Engineering &

Telecommunication, Secunderabad

Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering,

Jamalpur

Indian Railways Institute of Electrical Engineering, Nasik

Indian Railways Institute of Transport Management, Lucknow.

There has been decreased trend in number of staff in Indian

Railways. During 1980-81, the total railway staff was reported 15.72

lakh which declined to 13.28 lakh in 2010-11. However, there has been

significant increase in the wage bill during the corresponding period

(more than 40 times). There has been also increasing trend in average

annual wage per employee and traffic unit per employee. On an

average, per railway employee is receiving more than Rs. 4 lakh

(Table 3.9).

102

Table: 3.9

Personnel of Indian Railways

Year No. of Staff (‘000’)

Wage Bill (Rs. In

Millions)

Average Annual Wage

(Rs.) Per Employee

Traffic Unit Per Employee

(‘000’)

1980-81 1572.2 13167 8435 244

1990-91 1651.8 51663 31864 346

2000-01 1545.3 188414 121281 535

2009-10 1362.1 517194 382472 1183

2010-11 1328.2 537070 407448 1294

Source: Indian Railway, Facts & Figures, 2010-11.

The strength of Railway employees is shown in Table 3.10.

During 2010-11, out of total railway employees, 81.08 per cent

employees were categorized in Group C while 17.66 per cent

employees were from Group D category. Thus, only 1.26 per cent

railway employees were from Group A and Group B services. Total

expenditure on railway employees was reported Rs. 53706.09 crore in

2010-11.

Table: 3.10

Strength of Railway Employees Year Number of Staff as on 31st March (‘000’) Expenditure on

Staff (Rs. In Crore)

Groups A & B

Group C Group D Total

1950-51 2.3 223.5 687.8 913.6 113.8

1960-61 4.4 463.1 689.5 1157.0 205.2

1970-71 8.1 583.2 782.9 1374.2 459.9

1980--81 11.2 721.1 839.9 1572.2 1316.7

1990-91 14.3 891.4 746.1 1651.8 5166.3

2000-01 14.8 900.3 630.2 1545.3 18441.4

2007-08 16.1 907.4 470.9 1394.4 25892.3

2008-09 16.4 913.3 456.3 1386.0 39940.9

2009-10 16.7 926.5 418.9 1362.1 51719.4

2010-11 16.8 1076.9 234.5 1328.2 53706.9

Source: Indian Railways, Year Book, 2010-11.

103

The proportion of Scheduled Caste employees was reported

16.33 per cent in 2011. The highest proportion of SC employees was

recorded in Group D services followed by Group B and Group C

services. Similarly, the proportion of ST employees was 6.79 per cent in

2011 and highest proportion of ST employees was recorded in Group D

services (Table 3.11).

Table: 3.11

Representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Railway Employees

Number of SC Employees

Number of ST Employees

As on 31.3.2010

As on 31.3.2011

As on 31.3.2010

As on 31.3.2011

Group A 1255 (14.50 per

cent)

1170 (13.22 per

cent)

647 (7.47 per

cent)

636 (7.18 per

cent)

Group B 1264 (15.43 per

cent)

1141 (14.08 per

cent)

509 (6.21 per

cent)

506 (6.25 per

cent)

Group C 139744 (15.02 per

cent)

159165 (14.75 per

cent)

61151 (6.57 per

cent)

70887 (6.57 per

cent)

Group D (Excl. Safaiwalas)

62553 (16.49 per

cent)

39366 (19.48 per

cent)

26648 (7.03 per

cent)

16855 (8.34 per

cent)

Group D (Safaiwalas)

21920 (54.60 per

cent)

16690 (49.43 per

cent)

2233 (5.56 per

cent)

1563 (4.64 per

cent)

Total (Excl. Safaiwalas)

204816 (15.44 per

cent)

200842 (15.47 per

cent)

88955 (6.71 per

cent)

88884 (6.85 per

cent)

Grand Total 226736 (16.59 per

cent)

217532 (16.33 per

cent)

91188 (6.67 per

cent)

90447 (6.79 per

cent)

Source: Indian Railways, Year Book, 2010-11.

104

Coaching Vehicles:

The Passenger Carrying Vehicle (PCV) fleet has not grown

commensurate with traffic demand due to financial constraints and

limited capacity to manufacture them. A new coach factory at

Kapurthala was set up to meet the additional requirement/demand of

coaches. Efforts also have been made to absorb growing traffic

demands by improving the design of the existing stock. Coaches with

better layout and more seating capacity are being manufactured now.

Two-tier A.C. coaches have replaced First Class coaches of lower

capacity in most of the trains. In order to improve capacity and to

provide more comfort to passengers, 24 states-of-the-art coaches,

having speed potential of 160 kmph, were procured from M/s ALSTOM,

LHB, Germany with arrangement for ‗Transfer of Technology‘ to enable

manufacture of new design coaches at Rail Coach Factory (RCF),

Kapurthala and Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai. These modern

coaches were introduced on Delhi-Lucknow Swarn Shatabadi Express.

In addition to modern interior, these coaches also provide almost 22 per

cent more accommodation per coach.

Growth of Passenger Traffic:

In 1950-51, 1284 million passengers were transported by Indian

Railways. In 1988-89, this figure went up to 3500 millions, the increase

in number of passengers during 38 years being of the order of 173 per

cent i.e. at an average annual rate of growth of 4.55 per cent.The

passenger kilometers have risen from 66,517 million in 1950-51 to

263,731 millions in 1988-89 showing an increase of 296 per cent during

38 years i.e. an average increase of 7.79 per cent per year. The

passenger kilometers per route kilometer on Broad Gauge have gone

up from 1.77 million in 1950-51 to 6.42 millions in 1988-89 and on Metre

Gauge from 0.85 million to 1.85 million during the same period showing

105

an overall increase of 263 per cent on Broad Guage and 118 per cent

on Metre Gauge i.e. an average annual increase of 6.92 per cent on

Broad Guage and 3.11 per cent on Metre Guage. The average lead of

total passenger traffic (both non-suburban and suburban) has gone up

from 51.8 kilometres in 1950-51 to 75.3 kilometres in 1988-89 which

means an overall increase of 45 per cent or an average increase of 1.18

per cent per year. This shows that passengers on Indian Railways are

travelling for longer distances now than earlier, requiring more and more

long distance trains to deal with the additional passenger traffic. This

also shows that more passengers are travelling more frequently and

over longer distances. Class-wise the average lead of non-suburban

passenger traffic has gone down steeply from 1143.2 kilometrers in

1950-51 to 551.1 kilometres i.e. by 51 per cent in 1988-89 in case of AC

First Class; has gone down by 16 per cent in respect of AC Chair Car

from 938.5 kilometres in 1960-61 to 788.3 kilometres in 1988-89; AC

Sleeper Class, which was merged with First Class in the earlier years,

has been designated as a separate class from 1988-89 and it‘s a

average lead was 615 kilometres; and has gone up by 66 per cent in

case of First Class i.e. from 248 kilometres in 1950-51 to 412.7

kilometres in 1988-89. In respect of Second Class (Ordinary) the

average lead has gone up by 30 per cent from 54.9 kilometres in 1950-

51 to 71.1 kilometres in 1988-89 but in the case of Second Class

(Mail/Express), it has increased by 57 per cent i.e. from 241 kilometres

in 1950-51 to 378.8 kilometres in 1988-89. Taking the total, the average

lead for all classes during this period has gone up from 68.8 kilometres

to 141.6 kilometres i.e. by 106 per cent in 38 years at an average

annual increase of 2.7 per cent (Saxena, 1991).Over the years, most of

the long distance traffic by A.C. First Class has been diverted from the

Railways to Airlines. Some of the traffic in A.C. Chair Car has also been

diverted to A.C. Sleeper Class because of the economic capacity of

106

some of the A.C. Chair Car passengers who can pay a little more for

their travel. On the other hand whenever there has been an increase in

A.C. Chair Car fares, certain segment of traffic in A.C. Chair Car who

could not afford to pay the increased fares by this class, relegated

themselves to the position of those travelling by Second Class Sleeper.

Thus, there has been a drop in the passenger traffic in A.C. First Class

and A.C. Chair Car during certain years and the drop was quite

pronounced in 1986-87.It can be seen that the capacity available for the

transporting passenger traffic is lagging behind the demand for

passenger transportation since the number of coaches has gone up

only by 127 per cent since 1950-51 as against the number of

passengers which has gone up by 173 per cent as in 1988-89. The

paucity of coaches has resulted in an increase in unsatisfied demand in

respect of long distance traffic and in over-crowding in short distance

and suburban passenger training. The distance-wise distribution of

passenger traffic on Indian Railways shows that as regards non-

suburban passenger traffic, more than 78 per cent of the traffic is up to

200 kilometres and 92 per cent of the traffic is up to 500 kilometres.

Thus, short distance traffic is preponderant. As far as suburban traffic

concerned, the majority of the traffic is in the distance zone of up to 40

kilometres i.e. nearly 86 per cent and the balance 14 per cent is above

40 kilometres. The total number of non-suburban Mail/Express trains

run every day in 1988-89 was 749 on Broad Gauge and 252 on Metre

Gauge. In addition and 1240 such trains on Metre Gauge were run

every day. Thus, 1001 Mail/Express trains and 2969 passengers mixed

trains were run on Indian Railways every day, making a total of 3970

passenger carrying trains per day.Number of passengers originating is

shown in Table 3.12. There has been increasing trend of number of

passengers in all classes. The overall growth was recorded

phenomenon during 1950-51 to 2010-11 (495.87 per cent). Out of total

107

passengers originating 53.8 per cent passengers were from sub-urban

classes and 46.92 per cent were from non-suburban classes. Again, in

the suburban classes, most of them were mail and express passengers

while in non-suburban classes, most of them were ordinary passengers.

Table: 3.12

Number of Passengers Originating

(In Rs. Millions)

Year Sub-urban

(All Classes)

Upper Class

Mail/ Exp.

Non Suburban Second Class

Total Non-Suburban

Grand Total

Ordinary Total

1950-51 412 25 52 795 847 872 1284

1960-61 680 15 96 803 899 914 1594

1970-71 1219 16 155 1041 1196 1212 2431

1980--81 2000 11 260 1342 1602 1613 3613

1990-91 2259 19 357 1223 1580 1599 3858

2000-01 2861 40 472 1460 1932 1972 4833

2007-08 3689 66 776 1993 2769 2835 6524

2008-09 3802 76 895 2147 3042 3118 6920

2009-10 3876 86 983 2301 3284 3370 7246

2010-11 4061 100 1046 2444 3490 3590 7651

Source: Indian Railways, Year Book, 2010-11.

Projections for the terminal year of the Tenth Plan indicated that

the Railways would carry 5686 million originating passengers and

achieve 593 billion passenger kms (PKMs). As in the case of freight

traffic, actual achievements in 2006-07 of 6242 Million Passengers and

700 Billion PKMs would surpass this projection by a wide margin. The

year-wise growth in traffic is given in Table 3.13.

108

Table: 3.13

Passenger Performance during the Tenth Plan

Year Originating Passengers (In Millions)

Annual Growth

Rate

Passenger KMS

(In Billions)

Annual Growth

Rate

2001-02 5093 -- 490.9 --

2002-03 4971 2.4(-) 515.0 4.9

2003-04 5112 2.8 541.2 5.1

2004-05 5378 5.2 575.7 6.4

2005-06 5832 8.4 615.6 6.9

2006-7 (RE) 6242 7.0 699.7 13.7

Average Growth Rate

4.2 7.4

Source: Ministry of Railways, 2010.

During 1960-61, out of total traffic, 57.34 per cent passengers

were from non-suburban second class. This has significantly declined to

46.92 per cent in 2010-11. The proportion of suburban passengers has

increased from 42.66 per cent in 1960-61 to 53.08 per cent in 2010-11.

There has been also significant increased in the proportion of

passengers from second class mail express and upper class trains

(Table 3.14).

Table: 3.14

Proportion of Passengers to Total Traffic

1960-61 1970-71 1980-81 1990-91 2000-01 2009-10 2010-11

Non-Suburban Second Class

Ordinary 50.38 42.82 37.14 31.70 30.20 31.76 31.95

Second Class Mail/Express

6.02 6.38 7.20 9.26 9.77 13.56 13.67

Upper Class 0.94 0.66 0.30 0.49 0.83 1.19 1.30

Total 57.34 49.86 44.64 41.45 40.80 46.51 46.92

Suburban (All classes)

42.66 50.14 55.36 58.55 59.20 5349 53.08

Grand Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Source: Indian Railways, Year Book, 2010-11.

109

Suburban Passenger Traffic:

The originating number of passengers in respect of suburban

passenger traffic has gone up from 412 million in 1950-51 to 2005

millions in 1988-89, showing an overall increase of 387 per cent or an

average increase of 10.18 per cent per year. The suburban passenger

kilometers have gone up from 6551 million in 1950-51 to 51,912 millions

in 1988-89, showing an overall increase of 692 per cent or an average

increase of 18.21 per cent per year. The overall lead for suburban

passenger traffic has gone up from 15.9 kilometres to 25.9 kilometres

during this period, showing an overall increase of 63 per cent or an

average increase of 1.66 per cent per year. The train kilometers in

respect of suburban traffic have more than quadrupled from 9.28 million

in 1950-51 to 45.56 millions in 1988-89, showing an overall increase of

391 per cent or an average increase of 10.3 per cent per year. Vehicle

kilometers for suburban traffic have gone up from 119.8 million in 1950-

51 to 783.6 millions in 1988-89, which means an overall increase of 554

per cent or an average increase of 14.6 per cent per year.The average

rate per passenger kilometer has gone up from 1 paise in 1950-51 to

5.51 paise in 1988-89 i.e. an overall increase of 451 per cent or an

average increase of 11.87 per cent per year. The earnings from

suburban passenger traffic have gone up from Rs. 65.8 millions (Rs.

8.58 crores) in 1950-51 to Rs. 2,860.4 millions (Rs. 286.04 crores) in

1988-89 by more than 43 times showing an overall increase of nearly

111.76 per cent per year. The average revenue from suburban traffic

was 5.51 paise per passenger kilometer and the average fare per

passenger journey was Rs. 1.43 during 1988-89. The suburban

passenger traffic accounted to 57.28 per cent of the total number of

passengers, 19.88 per cent of passenger kilometers and only 11.66 per

cent of the revenue. However, in spite of the overall increase in the

revenue, Indian Railways incurred a loss of Rs. 1,220.1 millions (Rs.

110

122.01 crores) in transporting suburban passenger traffic which shows

that the increase in the suburban passenger fares has been much less

than warranted. It is not well known that the level at which the

passenger fares for suburban traffic were fixed in 1950-51 was

extremely low, as compared to the fares charged for non-suburban

passengers travelling over longer distance. It is for this reason that the

total earnings from suburban passengers were only Rs. 65.8 millions

(Rs. 6.58 crores) in 1950-51 as compared to the earnings from non-

suburban passengers traffic which contributed Rs. 916.3 millions (Rs.

91.63 crores) in 1950-51. The ratio between suburban and non-

suburban passenger earnings stood at 1:14 in 1950-51. This ratio got

reduced to 1:7.6 in 1988-89 because of the substantial increases in

suburban traffic and earnings since then. That is why the earnings from

suburban passenger traffic amounting to Rs. 2,860.4 millions (Rs.

286.04 crores) in 1988-89 as compared to the low figure of Rs. 65.8

million (Rs. 6.58 crores) in 1950-51, shows an enormous increase by 43

times.

Non-Suburban Passenger Traffic:

The total number of non-suburban passengers, which was 872

millions in 1950-51, has gone up to 1495 millions in 1988-89. The gross

increase has been of the order of 71 per cent with an average annual

increased of 1.87 per cent.The total passenger kilometres involved in

the transportation of non-suburban traffic have gone up from 59,966

million in 1950-51 to 211,819 millions in 1988-89. The increase has

been of the order of 253 per cent during 38 years with an average

increase of 6.66 per cent per year. The class-wise breadkup of non-

suburban traffic during 1988-89 shows that the maximum traffic was 77

per cent in Second Class (Ordinary) and 21 per cent in Second Class

(Mail/Express). In respect of AC First, AC Sleeper, First Class and Chair

111

Car, the combined traffic was 1.1 per cent of the total. The passenger

kilometres for Second Class (Ordinary) were nearly 39 per cent and for

Second Class (Mail/Express) more than 57 per cent and for Upper

Classes less than 4 per cent. As far as passenger earnings are

concerned, the Second Class (Ordinary) 26 per cent and First Class

and AC Sleeper about 11 per cent of the earnings. The Air Conditioned

First Class and AC Chair Car yielded less than 2 per cent of the

earnings and traffic is only from Second Class (Mail/Express) and

Second Class (Ordinary).Indian Railways serves as the principal modes

of passenger transport in the country. During 2001-02, the number of

passengers carried was 5,093 million as against 4,833 million in 2001-

02 – an increase of 5.4 per cent. Passenger kilometres, which is the

product of the number of passengers carried and average distance

traversed, was 49 billion, up by about 8 per cent from the level of 457

billion in the previous years. Passenger earnings also increased by Rs.

679.09 crroe (6.5 per cent) as compared with those of 2000-01.

Passenger Amenities:

The allocation under the Plan head ―Passenger and Other

Railway Users‘ Amenities‖, was to the tune of Rs. 169 crores for

2001-02: In order to provide upgraded passenger amenities at stations,

stations have so far been selected as model Stations. Some of the

thrust areas identified for them are as follows:

Provision of All India Train Enquiry System and Self-Printing Ticket

Machines (SPTMs).

Conversion of stalls into modular stalls and provision of Automatic

Vending Machines.

Improvement in circulating area and

112

Improvement in waiting rooms/booking offices/toilets and other

infrastructural facilities/passenger amenities.

Catering Services:

During the year 2001-02, catering facilities were available at

3,152 stations and on 228 pairs of trains. Of these departmental

catering units are running pantry car service on 43 pairs of trains and

185 pairs of trains are catered to by private operators. Indian Railway

Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) which has been set up to

venture in hospitality business and professionalize catering services on

Indian Railways, has initiated projects like Rail Neer, Budget Hotels,

Food Plazas and complete upgradation of existing catering/vending

facilities on Indian Railways. IRCTC is at present managing 61 mobile

catering units including 9 Rajdhani/Shatabdi Express trains, 13 Jan

Shatabdis and static catering units at 7 locations on Indian Railways.

Food Plazas at Mumbai, Pune and Chennai have also become

functional and more such Food Plazas are being set up at major

stations. Some of the steps by Indian Railways for improving

catering/vending services are as follows:

Introduction of Economy meals on Jan Shatabdi type of trains.

Free infant meals to all children below 5 years in all

Rajdhani/Shatbadi Express trains.

Ensuring quality and hygiene by providing hot/cold beverages

through automatic vending machines, providing casserole meals in

hot cases and using eco-friendly paper cups and packaging.

Sale of only ISI approved packaged drinking water and quality

products viz., reputed brand biscuits and other eatables through

catering/vending units.

113

Setting up Food Plazas for multi-cuisine services to travelling

public.

Financial Performance:

Outlays on Railways during Five Year Plans are shown in

Table 3.15. There has been increasing trend in budgetary allocations on

Railways during 1959 to 2012. There has been manifold increase (more

than 49 times) on budgetary allocations on Railways during 5th Plan to

11th Five Year Plan in India. However, the proportion of budgetary

allocations on Indian Railways as percentage of total budget has fallen

down from 7.9 per cent in 5th Five Year Plan to 5.6 per cent in 11th Five

Year Plan. There has been fluctuating trend in the ratio of outlays on

transport sector as percentage of total plan outlay during the

corresponding period.

Table: 3.15

Outlays in Five Year Plans (In Rs. Crore)

Secto

rs/U

nit

s

Up

to V

Pla

n (

1959-7

8)

VI

Pla

n (

1980

-85)

VII P

lan

(1985-9

0)

VIII

Pla

n (

1992

-97)

IX P

lan

(1997

-02)

X P

lan

(2002-0

7)

XI

Pla

n (

2007

-2012

Railways 4723 6585 16549 32306 45725 84003 233289

Transport Sector

10117 13962 29548 66173 117563 259777 448987

Total Plan Outlay

59979 109292 218729 485457 813998 1525639 4118531

Transport Sector as

per centage of Total Plan

16.9 12.8 13.5 13.4 14.4 17.0 10.9

Railways as per centage of Total Plan

7.9

6.0 7.6 6.7 5.6 5.5 5.6

Source: Indian Railways, Year Book, 2010-11.

114

There has been significant growth in gross revenue generation by

Indian Railways during 1980-81 to 2010-11. Out of total gross revenue,

more than 2/3rd revenue was generated from freight while revenue from

passengers was reported less than 3 per cent. Parcels and other

coaching contributed 2.61 per cent in gross revenue of Indian Railways

during 2010-11 (Table 3.16)

Table: 3.16

Revenue Generation by Indian Railways

(In Rs. Million)

Ye

ar

Pa

ss

en

ge

rs

Pa

rce

ls a

nd

Oth

er

Co

ac

hin

g

Fre

igh

t

Mis

c.

Su

pe

nse

(B

ills

Re

ceiv

ab

le)

Gro

ss

Tra

ffic

Re

ceip

ts

1980-81 8274.7 1157.1 16175.2 820.8 (-)187.6 26240.2

1990-91 31475.0 3363.8 84078.7 2417.6 (-)370.2 120964.9

2000-01 105150.7 7641.6 233051.0 7032.5 (-)4071.0 348804.8

2009-10 234882 22351 585016.8 28797.4 (-)1406.8 869639.7

2010-11 257926 24698 628447.2 34182.2 (+)101.7 945356.3

Source: Indian Railway, Facts & Figures, 2010-11.

There has been manifold increase in passenger revenues of

Indian Railways during 1980-81 to 2010-11. The proportion of suburban

passenger revenue in total passenger revenues accounted for 10.94

per cent in 1980-81 which has declined to 6.95 per cent in 2010-11.

Similarly, the proportion of non-suburban passenger revenues has

increased from 89.06 per cent in 1980-81 to 93.05 per cent in 2010-11

(Table 3.17).

115

Table: 3.17

Passenger Revenues of Indian Railways

(In Rs. Millions)

Year Suburban Non-Suburban Total

1980-81 905.2 7369.5 8274.7

1990-91 3569.8 27877.4 31447.2

2000-01 10911.4 93920.2 104831.6

2009-10 16690.4 217454.0 234144.4

2010-11 17862.8 329193.6 257056.4

Source: Indian Railway, Facts & Figures, 2010-11.

There has been manifold increase in gross traffic receipts and net

revenues of Indian Railways during the 1980-81 to 2010-11. There has

been shortfall of revenue in 1980-81, however, in other years, there has

been positive trend in revenue generation by Indian Railways

(Table 3.18).

Table: 3.18

Net Revenues of Indian Railways

(In Rs. Millions)

Year Gross Traffic

Receipts

Total Working

Expenses

Net Misc. Receipts

Net Revenue

Dividend Excess (+)/Short

Fall (-)

1980-81 26240.2 25364.6 399.3 1274.9 3253.6 (-)1978.7

1990-91 120964.9 111538.6 1711.5 11137.1 9381.1 (+)1756.7

2000-01 348804.8 346673.4 8580.9 10712.3 3076.4 (+)7635.9

2009-10 869640 829154 14954.7 55440.9 55433 (+)7.5

2010-11 945356 894742 12847.3 63461.4 49412 (+)1404.9

Source: Indian Railway, Facts & Figures, 2010-11.

116

Assets of Indian Railways are shown in Table 3.19. There has

been manifold increase in the value of assets of Indian Railways. Out of

total assets, the value of fixed assets was accounted to be 82.05 per

cent while funds with central government accounted for 11.71 per cent.

Similarly, investment accounted for 4.88 per cent during 2010-11. The

value of current assets accounted for only 1.36 per cent against the

total value of total assets.

Table: 3.19

Assets of Indian Railways

(In Rs. Billions)

Year Fixed Assets

Investment Investment in other under

takings

Funds with

Central Govt.

Current Assets

Total Assets

1980-81 69.35 3.85 1.29 18.02 4.21 96.72

1990-91 206.25 12.19 3.57 40.94 10.85 273.80

2000-01 603.69 22.08 7.64 115.16 29.78 778.35

2009-10 1890.76 80.01 62.38 324.12 31.87 2389.15

2010-11 2186.14 46.01 83.99 311.99 36.20 2664.34

Source: Indian Railway, Facts & Figures, 2010-11.

There has been significant increase in total liabilities of Indian

Railways during the period of 1980-81 to 2010-11. Out of total liabilities,

during 2010-11, 45 per cent liabilities was reported in terms of

investment from funds while loan capital accounted for 41.89 per cent.

Deposit from other sources constituted 11.58 per cent during the

corresponding period (Table 3.20).

117

Table: 3.20

Liabilities of Indian Railways (In Rs. Billions)

Year Loan Capital

Investment from funds

Reserves Deposits from other

sources

Misc. Liabilities

Total Liabilities

1980-81 60.96 13.52 6.49 11.54 4.21 96.72

1990-91 161.26 60.75 10.47 30.47 10.85 273.80

2000-01 326.62 306.79 3.59 111.57 29.78 778.35

2009-10 937.80 1095.36 50.32 273.80 31.87 2389.15

2010-11 1116.14 1200.01 3.42 308.56 36.20 2664.34

Source: Indian Railway, Facts & Figures, 2010-11.

Expenditure pattern in Indian Railways are shown in Table 3.21.

Out of total expenditure by Indian Railways during the period of 2002-03

to 2006-07, 37.8 per cent expenditure was made on new lines. The

second major head of expenditure was reported to be on gauge

conversion (26.89 per cent) while doubling of railway lines accounted

for 15.74 per cent.

Table: 3.21

Expenditure Performance During Tenth Plan (Rs. In Crore)

Plan Head 2002-03 2003-04 2004-04 2006-7 Total

New Lines 1315 1493 1690 1500 7996

Restoration on Dismantled Lines

98 45 22 10 189

Gauge Conversion 812 1164 1171 1299.88 5689

Doubling 578 532 488 1052 3330

Traffic Facilities Yard Remodelling

174 205 277 615 1634

Electrification Projects 250 148 115 226 814

M.T.P. 312 351 317 308 1499

Total 3539 3938 4080 5010.88 21151

Source: Indian Railway, Facts & Figures, 2010-11.

118

There has been significant growth in the expenses of Indian

Railways during the year 2007-08 to 2010-11. There has been manifold

increase in gross working capital, Rs. 5494.25 crores in 2007-08 to Rs.

9033.49 crores in 2010-11. Similarly, there has been manifold increase

in operating expenses, Rs. 2200.06 crores in 2007-08 to Rs. 3446.27

crores in 2010-11 (Table 3.22).

Table: 3.22

Expenses of Indian Railways

(In Rs. Millions)

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11

General. Superintendence

22914.9 35429.8 45223.3 43226.9

Repairs & Maintenance 129820.6 183059.8 228094.8 223742.2

Operating Expenses 220006.2 278505.7 319754.5 344627.5

Staff Welfare 19496.9 27587.6 36414.0 38647.3

Misc. Working Expenses

17535.2 22737.5 29394.1 30553.6

Suspense (+)557.8 (-)3827.4 (-)777.2 (+)594.7

Total Ordinary. Working Expenses.

410331.7 543493.0 658103.5 681392.2

Contribution in Funds 134290.0 174900.0 171050.0 213359.0

Total Working Expenses

544621.7 718393.0 829153.5 894742.2

Other Misc.Expenses. 4803.8 6452.3 7698.5 8606.6

Gross Working Expenses.

549425.5 724845.3 836852.0 903348.8

Source: Indian Railway, Facts & Figures, 2010-11.

119

Safety and Security:

Indian Railways has vast network of railway track and a number

of trains and coaches in different categories. The operation of such a

large number of trains is a challenging task and therefore casualties and

train accidents may happen due to different reasons. The comparative

position of train accidents during the period of 2006-07 to 2010-11 is

shown in Table 3.23. The number of train collisions reported higher in

2008-09 however, numbers of derailments were reported higher in

2007-08. Train accidents per million train kilometers have fallen down

from 0.23 in 2006-07 to 2.14 in 2010-11.

Table: 3.23

Consequential Train Accidents on Indian Railway

Year

Collisions Derailments Level Crossing Accidents

Fire in Trains

Misc. Total Accidents/ Million Train

Kms.

1990-91 41 446 36 9 -- 532 0.86

1991-92 30 444 47 9 -- 530 0.84

1992-93 50 141 51 9 -- 524 0.83

1993-94 50 401 66 3 -- 520 0.82

1994-95 35 388 73 5 -- 501 0.78

1995-96 29 296 68 5 -- 398 0.61

1996-97 26 286 65 4 -- 381 0.57

1997-98 35 289 66 6 -- 396 0.58

1998-99 24 300 67 6 -- 397 0.58

1999-2000

20 329 93 21 -- 463 0.65

2000-01 20 350 84 17 2 473 0.65

2001-02 30 280 88 9 8 415 0.55

2002-03 16 218 96 14 7 351 0.44

2003-04 9 202 95 14 5 325 0.41

2004-05 13 138 70 10 3 234 0.29

120

2005-06 9 131 75 15 4 234 0.28

2006-07 8 96 79 4 8 195 0.23

2007-08 8 100 77 5 4 194 0.22

2008-09 13 85 69 3 7 177 0.20

2009-10 9 80 70 2 4 165 0.17

2010-11 5 80 53 2 1 141 0.15

Source: Indian Railway, Facts & Figures, 2010-11.

Casualties and Compensation are shown in Table 3.24. Though,

there is no major difference in casualties per million passengers carried

out however, there has been increasing trend in number of passengers

killed and injured during 2006-07 to 2010-11. There has been also

fluctuating trend in the amount of compensation paid by railways during

the period. In 2010-11, Indian Railways paid Rs. 585.79 lakh as

compensation of casualties and train accidents.

Table: 3.24

Casualties and Compensation

Year Number of Passengers Casualties per Million

Passengers Carried

Compensation Paid

(Rs. In Lakhs) Killed Injured

2006-07 38 227 0.01 500.89

2007-08 9 245 0.00 121.37

2008-09 52 257 0.01 218.94

2009-10 67 253 0.01 265.81

2010-11 235 358 0.01 585.79

Source: Indian Railways, Year Book, 2010-11.

Major causes of train accidents are shown in Table 3.25. The

major causes of train accidents are reported to be failure of railway staff

and failure of other than railway staff. The other important factors of

121

train accidents were reported to be related with rolling stock and

sabotage.

Table: 3.25

Major Causes of Train Accidents

Causes of Accidents 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 (Provisional)

Failure of Railway Staff 85 87 76 63 58

Failure of Other Than railway Staff

84 81 75 75 58

Failure of Equipments 9 9 -- 6 2

(a) Rolling Stock -- -- -- -- 17

(b) Track -- -- -- -- 1

(c) Electrical -- -- -- -- --

(d) S&T -- -- -- -- --

Sabotage 8 7 13 14 17

Combination of Factors 1 0 4 1 1

Incidental 7 8 5 4 4

Could not be Established

1 2 4 2 1

Total 195 194 177 165 141

Source: Indian Railways, Year Book, 2010-11.

The profile of Indian Railways has shown impressive progress

during the last decades. Indian Railways has a vast network of track,

bridges, route, and different categories of trains and coaches. A large

segment of track has been electrified. Out of total rolling stock, most of

the locomotives are operated by diesel and electricity. However, Indian

Railways is also operating some of the steam locomotives in order to

preserve the heritage. The financial position and business performance

of Indian Railways has been impressive during the current years. There

has been significant improvement in passenger services related to

ticketing, catering and amenities being provided to passengers and

tourists.