Lok Sabha Question No. 2471 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-26
Subject: Decline in Passenger Traffic
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: BHOLA SINGH, PREM SINGH CHANDUMAJRA, SUNIL BALIRAM GAIKWAD, MOHANBHAI KALYANJIBHAI KUNDARIYA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2471 TO BE ANSWERED ON  26.12.2018

## DECLINE IN PASSENGER TRAFFIC

2471. SHRI BHOLA SINGH: PROF. PREM SINGH CHANDUMAJRA: DR. SUNIL BALIRAM GAIKWAD:

SHRI KUNDARIYA MOHAN BHAI  KALYANJI  BHAI:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the passenger traffic handled by the Railways declined though the capital grew between 2013-17;
- (b) if so ,the reasons therefor and the route-wise details of decline in traffic;
- (c) whether  the  Government has conducted any assessment regarding pricing policy of its competitors like road and air travel and if so, the details thereof and  if not the reasons therefor:
- (d) the details of the steps taken/being taken by the Government to enhance the competitiveness of railways vis-a-vis road and air travel, year and zone-wise since 2014; and
- (e) the details of the percentage of railway budget spent on improving the competitiveness of Railways during each of the last four years since 2014?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

- (a) to (e):  A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

*****

STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2471 BY SHRI BHOLA SINGH, PROF. PREM SINGH  CHANDUMAJRA,  DR.  SUNIL  BALIRAM  GAIKWAD  AND  SHRI KUNDARIYA MOHAN BHAI KALYANJI BHAI TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 26.12.2018 REGARDING DECLINE IN PASSENGER TRAFFIC.

(a):  Yes,  Madam.  On  Indian  Railways,  total  no.  of  passengers  carried and capital expenditure  incurred during 2013-17,yearwise is as under:-

|   S.No. | Year    |   No of Passenger ( In millions) | Captal Expenditure ( ₹ in crore)   |
|---------|---------|----------------------------------|------------------------------------|
|       1 | 2013-14 |                             8317 | 53,989.27                          |
|       2 | 2014-15 |                             8224 | 58,718.93                          |
|       3 | 2015-16 |                             8107 | 93,519.79                          |
|       4 | 2016-17 |                             8116 | 1,09,934.87                        |

- (b) The  demand  pattern  on  Indian  Railways  varies  across  different segments and sections. It varies during the peak and lean seasons. The reasons  for  decline  in  passenger  traffic  can  be  attributed  to  various factors including the improvement in road infrastructure offering better and  faster  connectivity,  diversion  of  passenger  traffic  to  metro  rail projects  in  cities,  changed  norms/regulations  in  the  issue  of    Izzat Monthly  Season  Tickets,  impact  of  natural  disasters  like  floods  and heavy monsoons, closure of certain sections etc.
- (c) Railways,  Road  and  Airlines  are  different  modes  of  transport, which are not comparable in terms of their volume, connectivity and convenience.  Further,  to  attract  more  passengers,  Indian  Railways have given following concessions/discounts:-
- (i)  10%  discount  in  basic  fare  on  vacant  berths/seats  booked  after preparation of first chart.

- (ii)  Discounted fare in Shatabdi trains over 4 sections viz. BengaluruMysuru, Mysuru-Bengaluru, Ahmedabad-Vadodara and Jalpaiguri-Malda Town sections.
- (iii)  To  facilitate  second-class  passengers,  sleeper  class  coaches running underutilized have been de-reserved on a particular section as second class unreserved on second-class fare.
- (iv) After successful implementation in 5 pairs of trains over Bengaluru-Mysuru  section,  the  power  has  been  delegated  to  Zonal Railways to declare AC-3tier coaches as AC chair car on AC chair car fare.
- (v)  Graded  discount  has  been  introduced  in  flexi  fare  trains  and Humsafar trains, where class-wise occupancy is less than 60%, 4 days prior to scheduled departure of the train as under:-

| Occupancy   | Discount         |
|-------------|------------------|
| Up to 70%   | 20% on last fare |
| 70 to 80%   | 10% on last fare |
| Above 80%   | Nil              |

Graded discount has been implemented for journey commencing 15-032019 onwards.

- (d) Indian Railways continuously strive to improve passenger traffic across all Zonal Railways through various measures like:-
- 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 Augmentation  of  ticket  selling  capacity  through  mobile  ticket booking, operation of Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVM), utilizing the services of ticketing agents like Jan Sadharan Ticket Booking Sewaks (JTBS), Station Ticket Booking Agents (STBA), Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendra (YTSK) etc.
- iii Organising  intensive  ticket  checking  drives  including  fortress checks etc.
- iv Expansion of digital payment modes like net-banking, credit/debit cards, e-wallets, Unified Payment Interface(UPI)/ Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) to enhance passenger convenience.
- v Introduction  of  Alternate  Train  Accommodation  Scheme  (ATAS) known  as  VIKALP  to  provide  confirmed  accommodation  to waitlisted  passengers  and  also  to  ensure  optimal  utilization  of available accommodation.
- vi Increase in number of RAC berths to provide additional accommodation to the passengers.
- vii Provision in the Computerised 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.
- (e)     The entire Capex of the  Railways is spent on modernization and expansion of the Railway network to keep the system competitive. The Capex  incurred  by  the  Railways  during  the  last  four  years  is  given below:

| Year    | Captal Expenditure ( ₹ in crore)   |
|---------|------------------------------------|
| 2014-15 | 58,718.93                          |
| 2015-16 | 93,519.79                          |
| 2016-17 | 1,09,934.87                        |
| 2017-18 | 1,01,985.47                        |