Women's Day 2023|Solo women passengers in Indian Railways still much fewer than pre-Covid levels

"Women passengers travelling solo (or in groups) make up 5-6 percent of the total passenger traffic at present. At its peak, this number had reached 13 percent back in 2018-19," the official said.

According to data presented by the Ministry of Railways, 5,321.69 million people travelled by train in 2022-23 (until January 10, 2023), compared to 8,086 million passengers in FY 2019-20, and 8,439 million passengers in 2018-19.

A second railway official said that as the overall passenger traffic had fallen, trains were relatively emptier, which raised concerns about the safety of such women passengers.

Covid hit hard

As the workforce moved to work-from-home and hybrid models, the railways witnessed lower passenger traffic than pre-Covid levels. A large portion of the urban population has stopped moving cities for work and, therefore, has stopped traveling back during the festival period.

Railway officials said that fewer rural women are traveling to cities and towns to look for work since the outbreak of the pandemic.

"Women who were earlier traveling to nearby cities and towns daily for work have fallen. Most took up other jobs in their villages and towns during the pandemic," another railway official said.

She added that due to the lack of job security in the cities, rural women were the quickest to take up jobs in rural areas, rather than wait to return to cities after the pandemic.

Seniors travel less

Senior citizen travel has been impacted by the removal of concessions given to them by the government.

Senior citizens were earlier given a 40-50 percent discount on fares, but the practice was stopped during the Covid crisis.

In 2017-18, Rs 670 crore was forgone in subsidies for senior citizens for travel in non-AC coaches, while Rs 820 crore was the cost of subsidising travel in air-conditioned coaches.

In 2018-19, Rs 714 crore was spent on such non-AC concessions, and Rs 921 crore on concessions for AC classes. In 2019-20, the value of the same was Rs 701 crore and Rs 965 crore, respectively.

"Elderly and rural working women comprise a large portion of the solo women travellers. Due to the removal of concessions for senior citizens, we have seen a dip in the traffic of elderly passengers, including women," the second government official said.

He also added that since the outbreak of the pandemic, due to the health risks associated with public conveyance, the railways had witnessed a fall in the traffic of elderly passengers.

While there have been talks of the concession being restored, there is no clear timeline for it. The Parliamentary Standing Committee, in its report on August 2022, has recommended the urgent restoration of the concession for senior citizens travelling by sleeper class and third AC.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the pandemic has impacted the stamina of elderly women and impacted their confidence to take solo trips.

Safety concerns linger

The Indian Railways has always had a questionable track record in catering to women passengers, with respect to safety, ease of travel, and facilities.

While the Railway Ministry and its subsidiaries have taken quite a few measures to increase the safety and comfort of women travellers, there is much to be desired.

Despite all the measures taken by the railways to make trains a safer mode of travel for women, it still remains quite unsafe for women to travel alone, especially in the cheaper classes.

The lack of Railway Protection Force (RPF) officers on trains is a major reason for this.

According to former RPF officials, despite the requirement that RPF officers must be present on all trains and patrol the same, they rarely do so. Indeed, in many cases, trains are run without RPF officers.

"In most night trains RPF officers are asleep and unaware of what is happening on the train. Security is not taken seriously in the RPF, because RPF officers are underpaid," a former director general of the RPF said.