The Hindu Business Line : Strong run continues for Railways

Indian Railways continued its good run in 2006 with an even better performance in the calendar year 2007. The growth in freight and passenger traffic during this year has been significant as compared to the figures of 2006. Freight loading increased from a level of 714.06 million tonnes (mt) in 2006 to 769.8 mt in 2007, a growth of nearly 8 per cent.

Freight earnings during the same period went up from Rs 41,042.7 crore to Rs 45,421.2 crore, growth of over 10 per cent. On the passenger front, the number of passengers increased from 6255.4 million in 2006 to 6613.1 million in 2007, growth of 5.7 per cent. Passenger earnings during the same period grew from Rs 15,398.6 crore to Rs 19,032.7 crore growth of over 23 per cent.

To cater to this massive growth in traffic, Indian Railways has embarked on a major programme of capacity augmentation. In 2007, the Eleventh Plan of the Railways was approved by the Government and it envisages a three-fold increase in investment during the Plan period. As against the Tenth Plan size of Rs 84,000 crore, the Eleventh Plan of the Railways will be Rs 2,51,000 crore. A major portion of this investment will be for capacity generation by way of network expansion, dedicated freight corridors, rolling stock procurement, technology upgradation and renewal and rehabilitation of assets.

The year 2007 has seen major developments in private sector participation in the Rail sector. A Concession Agreement was signed in January 2007 enabling private participation in container operations.

Private participation

This has opened up the investment possibilities for rail-linked ICDs and in container flat wagons and will pave the way for major increase in rail traffic on containers. Initiative for private participation for development of world-class stations has also been taken in 2007 and this will bring a sea-change in the facilities and ambience of our major railway stations.

Private participation in port connectivity projects has also received a fillip during 2007 with proposals for Krishnapatnam Port, Dahej Port rail connectivity being finalised.

New trains

The Railways, to cater to the growing passenger traffic, introduced a number of additional trains on long-distance routes and on the suburban sections. During 2007, 174 additional passenger services were introduced.

Further, to augment accommodation, the Railways added over 1,000 coaches on a regular basis on popular trains. Superior LHB type of coaches have been introduced in the Delhi-Patna and Delhi-Howrah/Sealdah Rajdhani Express trains. Garib Rath trains facilitating air-conditioned travel at affordable prices, introduced in 2007, have proved to be very popular.

A number of freight tariff policy initiatives, including incentive schemes, have been implemented.

Freight initiatives

During 2007, the Railways has also gone in for service level agreements in coal transportation with two independent power producers (IPPs), one power plant coming up in Rosa, UP, and the other near Udupi in Karnataka.

More such agreements, which provide for guaranteed transport, will come up in coal and in other sectors as well.

The growth that has been achieved between April and November, 2007, has been despite some severe constraints the Railways had to face, such as frequent disruption of traffic due to law and order problems on the Kirandul-Kotavalasa section, disruptions by public agitation in the Talchar area of Orissa and Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan and adjoining areas.

The prospects for 2008 look very bright. Both passenger and freight traffic are set to continue their current growth trends.

However, to sustain this growth, it is essential that the projects for throughput enhancement, particularly doubling, terminals, bye-passes and removal of other bottlenecks, are completed in time.

With many important policy initiatives and works getting completed, 2008 will see new records being set in Indian Railways’ performance.

(The author is a Member (Traffic) Railway Board.)