Amid slowdown, rlys' earnings grow at top speed

Amid all the signs of an economic slowdown, if there is one man who can laugh all the way to the bank, it is Railway Minister Lalu Prasad. The railways have seen a sharp jump in passenger traffic in June and July, even as airlines fret and fume over dwindling traffic and rising costs.

In June, railway passenger traffic jumped 15 per cent to 8.19 million as compared with June 2007. In the year-ago month, the growth was 9.54 per cent. Air traffic during June this year saw a decline of almost 4 per cent.

If you thought June was a fluke, take a look at the July numbers "" railway traffic was up 30 per cent in the first 10 days of the month. To put it in perspective, the Railway Budget for 2008-09 had projected traffic growth of 5.50 per cent for the year.

All this is reflected in the serious money the railways made in June. Total revenue from passenger traffic hit Rs 881.58 crore, a rise of 20.33 per cent over last year. Clearly, there is no evidence of a slowdown here.

One key reason for the surge in traffic is the large increase in the passenger-carrying capacity of the railways. In 2007-08, around 32 new trains were added which offered over 50,000 extra berths per day, that is, over 1.5 million new berths a month. In 2008-09, another 63 new trains are slated to be introduced, of which a few have already been pressed into service. 
 

PICKING UP BUSINESS
Class	No of Passengers (June)		Variations  (%)
	2007-08	2008-09
1st AC	103881	119475	15.01
2nd AC	987046	1106107	12.06
3rd AC	1932820	2414784	24.94
First Class	36422	40202	10.38
Sleeper Class	13835718	15715938	13.50

"The increasing summer rush coupled with higher air fares and grounding of air service to several cities is prompting people to reconsider travelling by rail," said Vinayak Chatterjee, the Chief Executive Officer of Feedback Ventures, an infrastructure advisory firm.

Some experts said the railways had gained some passengers from the airlines "" the air traffic in the country at around 6 million per month is less than a quarter of the railway traffic of 25 million per month.

"Overall, air fares have increased by around 140 per cent over last year. That is widening the gap between fares of low-cost carriers and trains," said a senior executive of a low-cost carrier.

Some bus operators said they too had lost business to the railways in the last couple of months.

"The number of buses on most routes is not enough to meet the demand from passengers. As a result, we have seen that demand going to trains," said a senior executive of a roadways transport agency in Kerala.

Interestingly, during June, the railways' Internet ticketing witnessed a growth of 171 per cent compared with last year.

The total number of railway tickets booked online during June stood at 2.74 millions compared to 1.01 million in June 2007.