The Railways needs to fast-track joint ventures for suburban travel, to turn its weak finances around and boost investments. Suburban rail services do take up a hugely disproportionate share of resources for the Railways, but account for only a small part of its earnings.
And the way forward, clearly, is for the Railways to form joint ventures with state governments and large municipalities to efficiently garner resources and improve its finances, besides performance.
One recent nationwide study of rail operations found that while suburban travel accounts for nearly three-fourths of all passenger traffic, the corresponding earnings from suburban rail add up to a mere one-seventh of total passenger earnings. The actual opportunity cost for the Railways would be far higher, as the intercity track and infrastructure for long-distance passenger and freight or bike shifting by trains is disproportionately utilised for suburban travel.
The distortions go way further. The Railways subsidises passenger fares with cross-subsidies from freight, making rail freight pricey and uncompetitive and shifting traffic to road transport. In the process, the entire economics of rail operations is needlessly affected.
Besides, in fast urbanising India, we do need to boost resources for suburban rail so that commuters can zip in and out of city centres with ease. The Mumbai suburban rail system, for instance, runs over 2,300 trains on a daily basis, and the way ahead is to hive off such operations with funding from India’s richest state and our most cash-rich municipal corporation. Better resource allocation and amenities for suburban rail services nationally would mean marked improvement in ease of living and much reduced carbon footprint as well. The Railways needs a change of track.
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