CHAPTER 19

RAILWAYS

19.1 Railways in the World : Statistics from International Union of Railways, UIC
members does not indicate much change in both passenger & freight traffic (in terms of
passenger/tonnes kilometres) during 2013 compared to the year before. Though the
decrease in freight traffic at 9789 billion tonnes Km( from 9807 billion tonnes km during
2012) was somewhat significant (about 0.2 % decline), the passenger traffic decreased by
marginal amount of about 1 billion passenger Kms to reach 9865 billion passenger Km
during 2013. Bleak European scenario continued to manifest itself through decline in
movement of both goods and passengers. Asia Ocenia & Middle East which comprises
bulk of the passenger traffic stagnated whereas contraction in freight was largely on
account of contraction in Europe. Growth in freight traffic in 2012 was led by Russia’s
extremely dynamic freight sector. (The analysis for 2013 is however constrained by data
availability for the recent year and use of previous years data for large entities is likely
introduces the effect of no change in annual comparisons).
19.2 Asia Ocenia & Middle East Accounts for about three quarters of railway passenger
traffic (in terms of passenger Kms) and within the group, India accounts for about half the
share ( 45 % approx).Out of the total passenger traffic in the world , India comprises about
one third (34%) whereas share of China , Japan & Russia is also significant at about 28 %
, 8 % and 5 % respectively . However in terms of freight traffic as measured by tonnes
kilometers, USA, China & Russian Federation each account for about quarter (26, 26 &
23% respectively ) of world freight traffic whereas share of India is about 6 per cent.
19.3 USA leads in rail network, in terms of length of lines, accounting for about a fifth of
total rail network. Russia with about 8 % share and China and India with about 5-6 %
share each also contribute significantly to world rail network.
International Railway Statistics : Synopsis (Source : International Union of Railways, UIC)
Passenger Kms (billions) 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 ∆%
Europe * 464.5 469.2 483.8 470.5 472.8 485.6 480.0 476.1 -0.8%
Russian Federation 177.6 173.4 175.9 153.6 139.0 139.8 144.6 144.6 0.0%
Africa 61.5 61.6 62.0 62.2 62.3 49.3 49.3 49.3 0%
America 12.8 13.3 14.0 13.5 12.0 20.8 20.9 22.3 6.6%
Asia Oceania and Middle East 1,646.0 1,788.6 1,950.9 2,012.0 2,079.3 2,187.8 2,171.7 2,173.0 0.1%
WORLD estimates 2,362.4 2,506.1 2,686.6 2,711.9 2,765.4 2,883.4 2,866.6 2,865.3 0.0%
Tonne-kms (billions) 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 ∆%
Europe * 695.8 723.2 986.8 546.0 700.6 648.6 621.4 604.1 -2.8%

Russian Federation 1,950.8 2,090.3 2,116.2 1,865.3 1,903.2 2,127.2 2,222.4 2,222.4 0.0%
Africa 142.2 139.2 138.4 137.1 139.2 139.1 139.1 139.4 0%
America 3,519.5 3,540.2 3,513.8 2,973.2 3,076.1 3,132.6 3,231.0 3,231.0 0.0%
Asia Oceania and Middle East 2,872.6 3,095.9 3,452.7 3,466.2 3,462.0 3,621.2 3,593.1 3,592.3 0.0%
WORLD estimates 9,180.9 9,588.9 10,207.9 8,987.9 9,281.2 9,668.6 9,807.0 9,789.2 -0.2%
Length of lines(kms) 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 ∆%
Europe * 2,64,204.9 2,64,630.4 2,63,805.8 2,68,465.9 2,85,408.3 2,70,341.9 2,65,115.6 2,65,231.0 0.0%

Russian Federation 85,253.0 84,158.0 85,194.0 85,281.0 85,292.0 85,167.0 84,249.0 84,249.0 0.0%
Africa 52,159.0 52,400.0 52,482.0 52,299.0 50,274.5 70,505.1 70,504.6 70,505.0 0%
America 3,85,272.2 3,89,862.8 3,86,772.8 3,83,079.2 3,75,773.6 3,69,222.0 3,69,222.0 3,81,538.0 3.3%
Asia Oceania &Mid East 2,21,788.0 2,22,644.5 2,21,827.0 2,24,151.0 2,24,204.9 2,33,570.4 2,32,365.9 2,27,707.0 -2.0%
WORLD estimates 10,08,677.1 10,13,695.7 10,10,081.6 10,13,276.1 10,20,953.2 10,28,806.4 10,21,457.1 10,29,230.0 0.8%
 Passenger-kilometres (billions)

Europe * Russian Federation

17% 5%
Africa
1%
Asia Oceania and America
Middle East 1%
76%

Tonne-kilometres (billions) Europe *

6%

Russian
Asia Oceania Federation
and Middle 23%
East
37%

America Africa
33% 1%

Length of lines (kilometres)

Asia Oceania
and Middle
East
22%
Europe *
26%

America
Russian
37%
Federation
8%
Africa
7%

* including Turkey
Source : International Union of Railways, UIC
19.4 Indian Railways : Indian Railways have a history and rich heritage
spanning over 150 years. IR is a state owned public utility of Government of
India under the Ministry of Railways. As a national common carrier
transporting passenger and goods over vast network of 65,436 kms route
lengths, it has played a key role in India’s social and economic development. It
is a cheap and affordable means of transportation for millions of passengers.
As a carrier of bulk freight namely ores and minerals, iron and steel, Cement,
mineral oils, food grains and fertilizers etc, the importance of Indian Railways
for development of Agriculture, Industry and for the benefit of common men is
well recognized.

19.5 For Administrative purposes Indian Railways is divided into 17 zones

which includes Metro Railway, Kolkata. These zones are further sub divided
into 68 operating Division. IR has 1,36,286 bridges, out of which 733 are
important, 11,039 are major and 1,24,514 are minor bridges. In 2012-13, 806
bridges including 8 distressed bridges were rehabilitated/rebuilt.

19.6 Presently, Indian Railways are engaged in a most challenging work

at constructing a new broad gauge 240 km long Kashmir rail link, in the
mountainous Himalayan terrain having 37 tunnels, including the largest tunnel
of 11 km and 69 bridges upto 105 meter long. Katra-Banihal track, is now due to be
completed by 2018. Quazigund -Banihal , Katra-Udhampur setions wre completed during
[Link] -Baramulla section measuring about 119 Kms was completed in 2009.

19.7 The world’s highest railway bridge-five times the height of Qutub Minar
and 35 meters taller than Eiffel Tower-will come up over the Chenab river on
the under construction rail link to the Kashmir Valley. The bridge will rise 359
meters over the Chenab, 65 km from Katra, on the 73-km Katra-Dharam
section of the ambitious Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project. The
1,315-metre bridge will use up to 25,000 million tonnes of steel and will be an
engineering marvel and work is going on in full swing. The world’s tallest rail
bridge is France’s Tarn river when completed, the Chenab bridge will be the
highest in the world.

19.8 Four sites of Indian Railways have been declared as “World Heritage site”
by the UNESCO. These are Darjeeling, Himalayan Railway inscribed in 1999,
Mumbai CST Building inscribed in 2004, Neelgiri Mountain Railways inscribed in
2005 and Kalka-Shimla Railways inscribed in 2008.

19.9 At present 5 luxury tourist trains are run by Indian Railways which are
“Palace on Wheels” in a circuit covering Rajasthan, Delhi and Agra, “Royal
Rajasthan on Wheels” in a circuit covering Rajasthan, Delhi, Agra, Khujrao and
Varanasi, “Deccan Odyssey”, “Golden Chariot and “Maharajas”s Express
covering various tourist destinations spread across the country. Besides,
Indian Railways also operate “Fairy Queen” the Heritage Steam Train between
Delhi and Alwar offering weekend package to Buddhist special train in the
popular Buddhist circuit and “Bharat Darshan” trains for the common man.

19.10 The Indian Railways are also classified by Gauges as Broad

(1.676m.), Meter (1.000m) and Narrow (0.762m. & 0.610m) according to the
minimum distance between two rails in meters mentioned in brackets. Indian
Railways carried 23.07 million passengers and 2.77 million tonnes of freight
each day during 2012-13.

Performance of Indian Railways :

19.11 Rail Network : As on 31.03.2013, the route length of Indian
Railways covered 65,436 kms. with running track length of 89,236 kms. The
total trackage including yards, sidings etc. stood at 1,15,833 kms.
19.12 During 2012-13, 501 kms. of new lines were constructed, 605
kms. of track has been converted from MG/NG to BG , 705 kms. of track has
been doubled from single line to double line and 3,296 kms. of track renewal
was carried out.
length ( Route Kms) - Indian Railways
70000
60000
50000
40000 44999 45456 45047 44853
48172
52399
56084 55895
30000 55499
53208
20000
10000 14856 18274 18559 18927 19607
9968
3706 5345
0 388 748
1950-51 1960-61 1970-71 1980-81 1990-91 2000-01 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11

As on 31.3.2013 , 20884 Km was electrified and

Electrified Non Electrified 44552 Km was non elctrified .
Rail Transport :
19.13 Passenger Business: Indian Railways is a commonly used mode of public
transportation in the country. During 2012-13, it carried 8,421 million passengers as
against 8,224 million in 2011-12 thus registering a volume growth of 2.4%. Passenger
kilometres, which calculated by multiplying the number of journeys by mean kilometric
distance was 1098 billion, up by 4.87% from 1,047 billion in the previous year. Passenger
earnings also increased by Rs 3,076.41 crore (10.89%) in comparison with 2011-12.

Year No. of Passenger Km Average Proportion to Total Traffic ( 2012-13)

Passengers (Millions) Lead (Kms)
Originating
(Millions) No. of Passenger
Passenger Kms

# Includes sleeper class

19.14 Freight : In 2012-13, IR loaded 1,014.15 million tonnes of which 1,008.09
million tonnes was revenue-earning and 6.06 million tonnes non-revenue-earning, and
achieved total Net Tonne Kilometres (NTKMs) of 692 billion as against 668 billion in 2011-
12. The freight earnings went up from Rs 67,743.62 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 83,478.83
crore in 2012-13, registering a growth of 23.23%.
Index of Growth of Freight (Rev. Traffic) Average Lead of Freight (Km) (Rev. Traffic)

Pattern of Revenue Earning Freight Traffic

(Percent to Total)
19.15 Traffic Density: Huge increase in
traffic, both passenger & freight, has
been observed in case of Indian
Railways .Growth in traffic has outpaced
the growth in infrastructure , resulting in
increased traffic density. Railways has
been converting more & more Narrow
gauge and Meter Gauge lines into Broad
Gauge increasing its share from about
72 % in 2002-03 to 87% in 2012-13 .
Between 1950-51 and 2010-11, traffic
density (million GTKMs. per running
track km.) increased from 4.29 to 24.29
on Broad Gauge. Broad gauge, though
forming 87.3 % of the route, generated
99.9% of the freight output (NTKMs)
and 98.3 % of the passenger output
(PKMs).

19.16 Earnings: Passenger earnings in

2012-13 were Rs 31,322.84 crore. This was
Rs 3,076.41 (10.89%) higher than the
earnings in 2011-12. Suburban traffic
contributed 6.42% to the total earnings. The
remaining 93.58% came from non-suburban
passengers. Earnings from Second and
Sleeper Class Mail/Express passengers
comprised 51.54% of the total passenger
earnings. The freight earnings went up from Rs
67,743.62 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 83,478.83
crore in 2012-13, registering a growth of 23.23%

Earnings from Passenger Traffic

300000 9000
8000
250000
7000
Million Passengers

200000 6000
Earnings in Rs million

5000
150000
4000
100000 3000
2000
50000
1000
0 0
2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11

Earnings from Passengers carried(Rs Million) No. of Passengers originating(Million)

 Earnings from Freight Traffic
700000 1000
900
600000
800
500000 700

Million Tonnes
Earnings in Rs Million

400000 600
500
300000 400
200000 300
200
100000
100
0 0
2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11

Earnings from Goods carried (Rs Million) Loads of Goods carried(Million Tonnes)

19.17 There was no proposal for any across the board increase in freight
rates in the Railway Budget for 2012-13. However, measures were taken to
rationalize the freight structure .Nevertheless, average rate charged per tonne
km increased from 101.5 paise during 2011-12 to 120.7 paise during 2012-13.
W.e.f 1st April 2012, the passenger fares of first class, Ac 2 Tier and First
AC/Executive Classes were increased by 10 ,15 and 30 paise per kilometre,
respectively. During 2012-13 , the average earning per passenger kilometre
was 28.52 paise in 2012-13 as against 27 paise in 2011-12.
Performance Parameters
19.18 Productivity: The following table shows the indices of growth of
traffic output vis-à-vis inputs:
19.19 Financial Performance: Revenue from Freight accounted for 68.82% of
Gross Earnings. Passenger Earnings constituted 25.28% of the Gross Earnings, of which
6.42% was from Suburban Services, 80.49 % from Express Long distance and 13.09 %
from Ordinary Short Distance traffic. Bulk freight like coal, ores, iron & steel, cement,
foodgrains, fertilizers, POL products, limestone, dolomite, stones other than marble, salt
and sugar contributed 88.87 % of the total goods earnings, while commodities other than
the above accounted for 9.04%. Various parameters like percentage of Net Earnings to
Total Capital at Charge, Percentage of Working Expenses to Gross Earnings & Gain to
State on Revenue Account indicated significant improvement during 2004-05 to 2007-08
and a decline thereafter. However, during 2012-13 railways again recorded excess of Rs
8266 Cr as its earnings far exceeded its total working expenses.
Financial Performance of Railways 2011-12 2012-13
120.00% 1600.00
Percent of Net
1,343
1400.00
100.00% Revenue to 4% 7%

Hundred million Rs
1,021 1200.00 Capital At Charge
80.00% 1000.00
60.00% 800.00 Percent of
working expense 95.7% 90%
434 446 600.00
40.00% 100 109 to Gross Earnings
207 400.00
20.00% 76 112 200.00 Gain to State 112.6 826.6
0 1
0.00% 0.00 On Revenue Account
(i.e. Surplus/Deficit)
(‘00 Million Rs )

Gain to State on Revenue Account (Rs lakh)

Percentage of Net Earnings to Total Capital at Charge
Percentage of Working Expenses to Gross Earnings

With a view to reduce the burden on common

man passenger fares and freight rates on
products for mass consumption were kept low.
19.20 Terms & Definitions:

• Capital at Charge: Book value of the capital assets of Railways.

• Route Kilometers: This represents the length of the railway routes
open for traffic at the end of each year. In calculating the length of the
route, double or more than double lines are counted only once.
• Gross Earnings and Working Expenses: This represents total
earnings and expenses of Railways in an accounting period irrespective
of whether or not the earnings have been realised or expenses paid.
Gross earnings include all earnings from passenger traffic, goods
traffic, parcels, luggage and other miscellaneous sources of revenue,
while working expenses include all expenses incurred for maintenance of
structural works, supply of loco power, carriage and wagon stock, ferry
steamers and harbors as well as the expenses of traffic departments,
general electric service departments and other miscellaneous
expenses.
• Train Kilometers: This represents the kilometers run by trains carrying
passengers or goods or both as well as the kilometers run by empty
trains. No deduction is made for departmental trains.
• Number of Passengers and Metric Tonne carried: The figures
represent the number of passengers and weight in metric tonne of
goods, originating on all Railways, treating passengers traveling or goods
carried over two or more Railways as single journey.
• Passenger Kilometers and Net Tonne Kilometers: These figures
represent the real indices of the volume of passengers and goods traffic
handled. These are arrived at by multiplying the total number of
passengers carried and the total tonnage of goods carried by the
respective number of kilometers, over which they are moved.

19.21 Source of Railway Statistics : Indian Railway is a state owned

public utility of Government of India under the Ministry of Railways. The
Ministry brings out various publications including the Indian Railways Year
Book which contains information on railway network- zone wise and all India,
railway infrastructure & expenditure thereon -track & bridges, electrification,
signal & telecom, rolling stock, traction etc , passenger business & freight
operations, asset utilization etc.

References:

• International Union of Railways, UIC Website (Online Statistics -Synopsis

2013).
• Indian railways Year Book 2012-13