The Hindu Business Line : `Dependence on one commodity often creates problems'

"We've no choice. There are a few other zonal railways which too depend on a single commodity. Besides, coal accounts for 65 per cent of the total traffic throughput of the Indian Railways." — MR S. K. VIJ, GENERAL MANAGER, EAST CENTRAL RAILWAY

East Central Railway was born on October 1, 2002, after the bifurcation of the Eastern Railway. The new zonal railway now comprises five divisions — Dhanbad, Mughal Sarai, Danapur, Sonpur and Samastipur — covering almost the whole of Bihar besides parts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. In an interview to Business Line recently at his office in Hajipur, near Patna, Mr S. K. Vij, General Manager of East Central Railway, discussed various issues facing his zone.

Excerpts from the interview:

How big is your zone?

Fairly big, starting from the border with Nepal in the north to short of Ranchi in the south and Kiul in the east to Mughal Sarai on the west. We've a total route km of 3,438.72 and track km of 7,387.63 including 4,891.48 km of running track and 2,496.15 km of loops and sidings. We have a workforce of about 80,000. In June 2002, I was here as Chief Administrative Officer, then the senior most Railway official, to expedite the setting up of this zonal railway. I'm happy to be back here as the General Manager.

Performance-wise...

Not too bad. We account for about 10 per cent revenue earning of the Indian Railways. Our position is fifth in terms of the volume of freight carried and our earning from the passenger revenue grew 12 per cent last year. But for the menace of large-scale ticketless travelling, which is being tackled through various means, the growth would have been higher at 15 per cent, if not more. If you cut out the suburban traffic of some of the zonal railways, we are comparable to several others in terms of the volume of passenger traffic handled.

Your freight loading...

In 2005-06, our total revenue earning freight traffic was 61 million tonnes, likely to touch 65 million tonnes in 2006-07, including an estimated 61 mt of coal traffic. Other major items of traffic are petroleum products (POL) and foodgrains. We also handle limited quantities of dolomite, caustic soda, sand and various other items.

Doesn't single commodity dependence make you worried?

What can be done? We've no choice. There are a few other zonal railways which too depend on single commodity. Besides, coal accounts for 65 per cent of the total traffic throughput of the Indian Railways.

Aren't you targeting other commodities?

Of course, we're trying, but there is a problem. For example, we cannot handle cement because there is no cement plant in the areas served by our railway.

With oil companies increasingly using pipeline network in preference to other modes for transporting their products, we cannot pin much hope on the POL traffic.

But we're stepping up our loading of foodgrains. In Sheikhapura, we have started loading boulders and stone earlier transported by road. There is no let up in our effort to locate new items of traffic.

What is your operating ratio?

At 82.31 (2005-06), we're comfortable, and we hope to do even better in the current year. This will happen because of the savings achieved in energy bill, manpower cost through redeployment of people and maintenance cost.

Could you give some idea about the new projects?

We've on hand more than 2,200 km of track-related projects covering the construction of new lines, doubling and conversion from the metre gauge into broad gauge. There will be four mega bridges, mostly rail-cum-road bridges — two across the Ganga at Patna and Mungher and one each at Nirmali on the Koshi river and between Sonnagar and Dehri-on-Son on the Son river.

The estimated investment in these projects...

Difficult to indicate anything precisely at this stage but it should be more than Rs 10,000 crore. The new lines will cost about Rs 4.5 crore per km and doubling about Rs 2.5 crore. The construction of the bridges will cost more than Rs 3,000 crore. Also, there are proposals for setting up a workshop and few other things. The annual outlay for the projects is more than Rs 1,000 crore and almost 30 per cent of it is the labour cost. We're spending Rs 300 crore annually to provide direct employment to about 1,500 workers every day.

Any target date for the completion of the projects?

Barring unforeseen circumstances, the construction of the mega bridges should be over by December 2009 but not the construction of new lines. After all, land acquisition is a tardy process.

What is the biggest challenge before you?

There are several challenges before us in the East Central Railway. On the passenger front, the demand of the passengers for punctuality, better amenities on board as also in the stations and better quality food is rising. The Railway Board too is laying emphasis on providing better passenger amenities and to ensure timely running of trains.

On the freight front, the dependence on one commodity often creates problems. For example, the demand for coal, mostly from power-houses, virtually skyrockets between October and March, putting pressure on our system. Only if the peak demand could be spread over a longer period. The coal loading is often affected during the monsoon when the mines get flooded. The difficult law and order situation is a matter of concern. Our major freight loading division, the Dhanbad division, falls in Jharkhand area afflicted with the Maoist problem. Sometimes the inspection of tracks become difficult.

But we still have a bigger problem to handle: How to attract reputed contractors to expedite the work of our various projects. A few years ago, we invited EoIs (Expressions of Interest) for undertaking jobs worth Rs 400 crore. But the response was poor. Every year we spend Rs 500 crore on civil work and we want top-class contractors to come with their equipment and implement the jobs within the stipulated time. But the response from them so far leaves much to be desired.