Are The Indian Railways On Track?

A brief overview of the state of Indian Railways through two simple charts. 

Railways have been an indispensable part of the Indian subcontinent. Being one of the world’s largest networks it spans 1,15,000 km of track over a route of 65,436 km. Despite its record of constant increase in the number of passenger-journeys, the Indian railways faced a rather unpleasant decline in the number of passengers travelling in the year 2014.

Several arguments are given as the one of the possible reasons for this decline.

The persistent hike in the price of a railway ticket, and the rise in the cost of cancellation have been a major reason as to why people are shying away from the railways. Along with this, availability of decent and efficient alternative modes of travelling like luxurious sleeper buses and better road connectivity also played their part.

Sources: Govt Annual Reports 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

Some interesting related facts are:

• The staff strength of Indian Railways (IR) has been at a constant decline since 2008. However, 2013-14 witnessed a hike in total railway personnel.
• There has been substantial hike in the number of ticketless passengers.
• The revenue accrued from ticketless passengers by the railways was around Rs 688.11 crore in the year 2013-14, which stood at around a 100% increase from 2008-09
• Although there was a marginal decline in the total number of passengers in 2013-14, the rise in railway revenue was still consistent.
• There was an increase of Rs 5,210 crore revenue from 2012-13 to 2013-14.
• The punctuality performance of Mail/Express trains, including arriving at destinations on the right time, during the year 2013-14 was 83%, which was a 4% increase from the year before.