The recent festival rush in the weeks leading up to Diwali is bad news for the Railways, financially.

This is because several special passenger trains being run, eating into limited track capacity that would otherwise have been used for freight, a Ministry official said.

While this is an annual phenomenon, this year is particularly tough for the national transporter, already under pressure due to the higher-than-expected rise in working expenses, mainly as a result of the steep rise in fuel price and staff expenses.

Money from freight

The Railways makes more money moving freight, as passenger services continue to be loss-making operations.

Despite the recent hike in fares, losses from passenger operations are expected to cross Rs 25,000 crore in the current fiscal. Till October 7, the Railways had run over 3,700 special trains to meet the Chhat and Durga Puja rush.

Now, various zonal railways are running special trains to meet the sudden increase in demand to meet the Diwali demand for seats. For instance, Northern Railways has run over 90 Diwali special trains.

The Railways took an extra hit of about Rs 1,200 crore on account of the increase in fuel costs in the first six months. The Fuel Adjustment Component, or the fuel-linked tariff component for train services, has been implemented on freight and passenger services, leading to higher tariffs.

A 10 per cent increase in dearness allowance for Government employees is also expected to cost the Railways Rs 1,000-1,300 crore this year.

Huge wait-list

The excessive demand this year can be gauged from the fact that the wait-list number for many trains is touching 500.

The Railway Board Chairman, Arunendra Kumar, had recently said that passenger fares are unlikely to go up till mid-2014, by which time the general elections will be over and a new Government will be in place.

However, earlier this month, Devi Pandey, Member-Traffic, told Business Line that since the policy decision to link the fuel adjustment component has already been approved in the Budget, the Railways reserved the right to review the fares, depending on fuel price movements.

mamuni.das@thehindu.co.in

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