Will ‘post-Covid’ coaches help Indian Railways regain passenger trust ?

Indian Railways has often been in the news for passenger complaints related to the lack of cleanliness in its coaches. But experts feel the national transporter’s latest move will help it win the confidence of passengers.

Seeking to ensure a hassle-free experience for passengers amid the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Indian Railways has unveiled a ‘post-COVID-19’ coach with features such as foot-operated soap dispensers, copper-coated handrails and latches, plasma air purification and titanium di-oxide coating (to kill viruses).

“It’s a very good initiative. COVID-19 is going to stay with us for the foreseeable future and there are going to be teething issues in any such initiative. As a country, we can’t keep our major travel options suspended for long for economic reasons. There is a psychological factor attached to travelling at the moment and people are avoiding travel unless necessary. However, essential travel and business travel has resumed,” said Abhilesh Babel, CEO, Advisory, Feedback Infra.

He also said travel by road has picked up but air and rail travel will take more time as the travelling public is worried about mass exposure.

Dogged by criticism over its lackadaisical style of functioning, Indian Railways has risen to the occasion this time by helping the government, particularly by providing facilities for the treatment of COVID-19.

Operating cost challenge

But, how is this going to tackle the rise in operating costs considering that occupancy levels will stay low in the near future?

“Railways as a business largely has fixed-cost components -- variable costs constitute a lower proportion. For example, Railway personnel account for 60-70 per cent of the expenditure of Railways and that is not linked to the level of traffic. As a reduction in fixed costs cannot be effected in the short term, there will be pressure generating an operating surplus,” said Rajaji Meshram, Partner, EY India.

He commended the Railways for the role it has played during the COVID-19 crisis. “Railways has performed extremely well during this crisis. While road traffic came to a standstill in the initial days of the lockdown, railway operations on the freight side never stopped. Before COVID-19, railways carried almost 8 billion passengers every year and served as a lifeline for the country. Railway operations have a social obligation aspect and Indian Railways has been proactive in meeting these obligations through measures like the COVID-19 coach, Shramik specials, special parcel trains etc,” he said.

On the ‘acceptability factor’ for passengers, Meshram said the travel behaviour of people will have its own trajectory. “It is an unprecedented situation. Public transport entities are putting in efforts to make travel safe for passengers. But the parameters associated with a travel decision are completely different now as compared to earlier. It might take a year or more for passenger volumes to come back to pre-COVID-19 levels” he said.