Capacity constraint

Railways should address demand-supply mismatch

Visuals that have emerged of overcrowding at platforms and on India’s long-distance trains around the Diwali weekend have shocked many. The rush, both on and outside the trains, was reminiscent of the peak hour in the Mumbai suburban rail network — except these were for intercity and interstate trains. On social media, many passengers who held confirmed tickets and seat reservations complained they could not access their seats or even enter trains, which were overrun with unreserved passengers. Indian Railways has claimed this is because of the extraordinary rush associated with both Diwali and Chhath Puja. Many migrants from the eastern and northern parts of the country were returning home from their workplaces along the coast. Yet surely this traffic could have been anticipated and provided for. The railways said it had run 1,700 special trains alongside the festivities, with 2.6 million extra berths. If so, one of two things is true: Either even these numbers were a significant underestimate of demand, or the special trains and berths were not efficiently allocated to those routes where the extra passenger demand existed.

The government has been talking about new trains with better standards of service and hygiene. Such an upgrade of rail service in India is, of course, necessary and overdue. But it is hard to escape the conclusion that too little attention is being paid to the requirements of the vast majority of passengers on the railways. Processes put into place for general and unreserved travel also need to be reviewed in keeping with the modern times and the overcrowding of the rail network. The fact that passengers with reserved seats cannot board due to the throng of unreserved passengers is clearly due to the existing policy in the railways, which allows tickets for general compartments to be issued until the moment the train leaves the station. As a consequence, even on normal occasions, unreserved coaches that can accommodate 90 passengers in relatively uncomfortable conditions often have double that number.

It has also been reported that the railways has been reducing the number of general, unreserved carriages on its long-distance trains on some routes while increasing the number of air conditioned (AC) carriages. This may be because the latter are more profitable. If so, then the requirement surely must be to increase the prices for general, unreserved seats and ensure that more carriages are supplied. But as is often the case, the problem comes back in the end to price controls of low-end passenger fares. The concerns of unreserved passengers need to be listened to carefully. The data shows that they are a large proportion of those who seek to travel. On popular routes, reserved seats are often booked shortly after they open 90 days in advance. More trains for this group of passengers and along high-demand routes are a must. The railways should also provide an adequate number of non-AC carriages, which are preferred by migrant labourers. Otherwise they either have to be moved up the value chain — charged more and given more facilities so they are willing to pay — or regulations need to be put in place to prevent overcrowding. One person died on this occasion in a stampede at Surat station. Unless sensible measures are taken soon, the number of fatalities could increase.