Economic Survey 2023: Indian Railways passenger segment still struggling to overcome pandemic woes, freight steams forward

The union budget 2023-24 may also see an increase in budgetary allotment for the successful completion of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project

The Indian Railways' passenger traffic is still suffering due to the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and has not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels in 2022-23, said the Economic Survey for 2022-23 tabled in Parliament on January 31.

Union Minister for Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman on January 31 tabled in Parliament the Economic Survey 2022-2023, which reviews how the economy performed in this fiscal year and the road ahead for the next year.

During April-November 2022-23, Indian Railways carried over 4.184 billion passengers which is much higher than the 3.519 billion passengers it had carried in 2021-22, but lower than the 8.086 billion passengers carried in 2019-20, according to the Economic Survey.

While growth over the previous fiscal year (2021-22) is staggering this was mainly on account of a statistical base effect as India was plagued by multiple waves of COVID-19--Delta wave and Omicron wave.

In 2022-23, the Railways intended to ferry 8.3 billion passengers, however, the Indian railways are struggling to live up to the target.

The passenger traffic of Indian railways has been plagued by high ticket prices, removed of discounts for elderly passengers, and the national transporter being forced to cancel thousands of passenger trains during the nationwide coal crisis.

Freight volumes steam forward 

Indian Railways’ focus on freight movement during the pandemic has resulted in Railways clocking over 8.3 percent growth in cargo loaded in the April-November of the present financial year 2022-23 over the corresponding period of the previous year, points out the Survey.

Tracking the journey of Railways during the pandemic, the Economic Survey says that “in 2020-21 and 2021-22 there was a sharp increase in the freight traffic, reflecting the strong revival in the economic activity in the domestic economy."

In 2022-23, Indian Railways loaded 976.8 million tonnes (MT) till November 2022, which is 8.3 percent higher than 901.7 MT during the same period in 2021- 22.

Kisan Rail 

Launched on August 7, 2020, the Kisan Rail service speedily moves perishables such as fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, fishery, and dairy products from places of production or surplus to places of consumption or scarcity.

From its launch to October 31, 2022, Indian Railways operated 2,359 Kisan Rail services, transporting approximately 7.91 lakh tons of perishables including fruits and vegetables, says the Survey.

This involved a transport subsidy of Rs 115 crore till December 15, 2021, against the transportation of about 5.68 lakh tonne of fruits and vegetables.

Till mid-January 2022, Indian Railways had operated 1,900 Kisan Rail services, transporting approximately 6.23 lakh tons of perishables including fruits and vegetables.

Investment in Railways on the rise

The central government spent Rs 1.15 lakh crore as capital expenditure for the Indian Railways in April-November 2022, which indicates a 76.65 percent jump in capital expenditure when compared to the same period last year.

"During the current financial year (till 12 December 2022), the national carrier has already completed 2022 Track Kilometres (TKM) which includes 109 TKM of New Line, 102 TKM of Gauge Conversion and 1811 TKM of
multi-tracking projects," the economic survey said.

The survey added that in 2021-22, 2022 TKM was completed in only by the first week of March.

The survey also said that the fast pace of infrastructure augmentation by Indian Railways has been a result of a rise in the allocation of funds to the national carrier.

The survey noted that the government's move to delegate power at the field level has helped in the commissioning of doubling projects, close monitoring of the progress of projects at various levels, regular follow-up with state governments and relevant authorities for expeditious land acquisition, forestry and wildlife clearances and resolving other issues pertaining to the projects.