Considered the lifeline of the poor, train travel is increasingly becoming a tough deal.
Up to 1.4 crore passengers were denied train travel in the past six months as they could not get confirmed seats, revealed the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) in a Right to Information (RTI) reply.
There is heavy rush of passengers during the festive season from Deepavali till Chhath Puja. Data reveals that with dynamic ticket pricing, train fares are soaring like flight charges. Also, the share of more expensive air-conditioned coaches is increasing, while the number of affordable sleeper class coaches is gradually shrinking, replies to multiple RTI queries filed with the Indian Railways reveal.
Between April 1 and September 30, 2023, the IRCTC booked over 1.45 crore passengers in trains and earned a revenue of ₹1,034.4 crore from ticket sales. Additionally, tickets of up to 1.44 crore waitlisted passengers, who don’t get berth, got auto cancelled, and the Railways earned over ₹83.85 crore as cancellation charges.
“Passengers whose tickets get auto cancelled are those who wait until four hours before the travel chart is prepared. Railways is unable to allot them a berth, but also deducts cancellation charge, how is it fair to them?,” said Chandrasekhar Gaur, a Madhya Pradesh-based RTI activist.
₹9,395 for a second AC ticket
When 29-year-old Balram Vishwakarma, a marketeer based in Mumbai was checking last-minute trains plying on November 17 to his hometown Bihar, he was in for a shock.
A second AC ticket on the Patna Suvidha Express was costing a whopping ₹9,395, akin to a flight ticket. In train, the journey would take over 26 hours, whereas a flight from Mumbai to Patna takes a mere two-and-a-half hours.
“While the base fare was ₹2,950, the dynamic pricing surge was an additional ₹5,900, leading to sky-high prices,” Mr. Vishwakarma told The Hindu. Dynamic price for a third AC ticket on the same train cost as high as ₹6,655 and a sleeper class ticket cost ₹2,625 for November 17.
Thousands of passengers from across the country travel to their hometowns in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during Chhath Puja. “Base price for a sleeper class train ticket is ₹800. It is a popular route of travel for migrant labourers in Mumbai who visit their hometowns during Chhath. To charge an additional ₹1,825 to these poor people for a sleeper class ticket is absolutely unfair,” Mr. Vishwakarma further added.
Less sleeper coaches
The Patna Suvidha Express has 21 coaches of which 18 coaches are meant for passenger travel. Of these 18 coaches, 10 are air-conditioned (56%) while eight are sleeper class. “The demand for sleeper class is much more, with waiting list running into over 300 persons, while for third AC the waiting list is of 100 persons, yet there are less number of sleeper coaches and more AC coaches,” said Mr. Vishwakarma.
According to a Right to Information reply provided by the South Eastern Railways, it is evident that the Indian Railways has been systemically increasing the number of AC coaches in trains and reducing sleeper coaches.
For instance, on the Howrah-Chennai Route, there were 73% sleeper coaches and 27% AC coaches in 2009. In 2022, the share of sleeper coaches fell to 56% while AC coaches increased to 44%.
“Because there is a reduction in sleeper coaches, these coaches are beginning to resemble overcrowded unreserved coaches. A recent stampede in Surat railway station that left one dead and three injured as a large crowd tried to board a train to Bhagalpur is a telling example of how bleak the situation is,” said Saikiran Netinti, a research scholar in political science at Hyderabad University.
Cancelled trains
To add to the woes of soaring ticket prices and unavailability of affordable seats in trains, trains often get cancelled, compounding the problems for hapless passengers.
In reply to an RTI application filed by Bihar-based activist Kanhaiya Kumar, Sanjay Kumar Mishra, Central Public Information Officer, Railway Board, stated that in the last four-and-a half years, the Indian Railways has cancelled up to 1,16,060 mail or Express trains, which is an average of three trains every hour. Of these, 74,899 trains got cancelled in the last two-and- a-half years alone, the reply states. In 2023-24, an average of 62 trains were cancelled per day.
