Unveiling the Railway Satire: The Rise and Rise of Bharat

REDKP

19th June, 2024

Train Number 16160: Mangaluru Central-Chennai Egmore Express via Tiruchirappalli Junction at Palakkad Junction.

Tiruchchirappalli Junction

During the mark of every weekend (let's say it's a Friday evening!), the atmosphere at Tiruchchirappalli Junction is buzzing with excitement at 5 p.m.! Two Significantly Important trains enter the Junction. The two trains are the renowned Train Number 22672: Madurai-Chennai Egmore Tejas Express and Train Number 12083: Mayiladuthurai-Coimbatore Janshatabdi.

Left: The Only running Tejas of South India: 22672 Right: The Only running Janshatabdi within Tamil Nadu

During the first three semesters at university, I enjoyed 5 p.m. Junction gatherings before long weekends, sending my friends to Chennai or the Western region and waiting for Train Number 16231, Mysuru Express till 8:30 p.m. to head towards Bengaluru. Waiting for a long time at the Junction allowed me to thoroughly examine the Railway Time Table of the station and indulge in some railfanning as well!

Day trains heading to Chennai that pass through or start from Tiruchchirappalli Junction

I found it surprising that while multiple trains run regularly from or pass through this junction during the daytime to Chennai, there is no daily train linking Bengaluru, a significant city, during the daytime. A good number of people residing in Bengaluru are natives of Tiruchchirappalli. Mayiladuthurai- Mysuru Express is the only daily train connecting Bengaluru and Tiruchchirappalli.

The Trial Notification of Madurai-SMVT Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express (Via Trichy) issued by the Southern Railways on 15th June 2024

Receiving this Trial Notification brings me a ray of hope as this service has been long-awaited by us Maduraikkarans for many years. What made it even better was knowing that it would go through Tiruchchirappali, providing additional advantages to many and easing the pressure on the existing daily train.

Is a Vande Bharat necessary? Does it truly serve the greater good? Is there an excessive amount of hype surrounding Vande Bharat? Where are the other premium category trains?

Many More Questions crept into my mind looking at the sheer boom of Vande Bharat Trains!

Based on my experience of travelling in various classes and categories of trains across the country, I will attempt to address these and numerous other questions that come to mind, without adhering to any particular sequence.

Train Number 22691: KSR BENGALURU-H. NIZAMUDDIN RAJDHANI EXPRESS

Vande Bharat at the Top of the Hierarchy of Priority

During my journey to Delhi, a surprising realization struck me. I covered the entire distance from Bengaluru to Delhi on a Rajdhani Express. Nagpur marked the transition from South India to North India. Leaving Nagpur behind, the train embarked on a four-hour non-stop journey to Itarsi.

After covering 40 kilometres since restarting, the train unexpectedly came to a halt at a random station. To my surprise, within the next ten minutes, a Vande Bharat train overtook a Rajdhani Express. Unbelievable! Yes, it was Train Number 20912-Nagpur-Indore Vande Bharat that passed our train. This overtake happened because this train had to reach Itarsi Junction 25 minutes before our train was scheduled to reach the Junction. The overtaking incident highlights the current priorities on railway tracks. The Vande Bharat's dominance is undeniable, impacting even the Rajdhani trains let alone the non-premium trains.

The very rationale behind the Vande Bharat Express (Hereafter referred to as the "VB") was to offer a high-speed intercity connection between prominent destinations that are less than 800 kilometres apart or take a travel time of less than 10 hours. These train sets are manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Perambur, Chennai. They are equipped to clock a maximum speed of 180 km/h on trials, but the current maximum operational speed has been reduced to 160 km/h on the Tughlakabad-Agra section. However, rest of the places, the maximum operational speed is either 130 km/h or less than that. Just like any premium service, the food options available on this train are provided to attract passengers.

Since VB is a premium service, it was never meant to serve the larger section of passengers. It is just for high-end travellers willing to pay a bit more for comfort, premium services are introduced. This ends up boosting the net revenue for the railways. Therefore, this would also result in reducing the burden on the non-premium category trains.

Is VB that fast?

But here is a catch. The Railway Ministry in response to an RTI Query said that the average speed of Vande Bharat trains has decreased from 84.48 km/h in 2020-21 to 76.25 km/h in 2023-24. Railways Officials say not just VB but many other trains are also maintaining cautionary speed at places where “huge infrastructural work” is underway. Further, they justify stating that some Vande Bharat trains have been launched in difficult terrain areas where there are speed restrictions due to geographical reasons or extreme weather conditions. Some of the routes on which the Vande Bharat’s speed is worse than its overall average speed are Dehradun-Anand Vihar (63.42 kmph), Patna-Ranchi (62.9 kmph) and Coimbatore-Bangalore Cantt (58.11 kmph).

The Bengaluru-Salem Route via Hosur through whose curvy tracks the Coimbatore VB traverses in 6 hours and 25 minutes! Snapped from the Gatiman of Kerala i.e. Ernakulam Intercity-Express.

Let me cite the example of train number 20642/43-Coimbatore-Bengaluru Cantt-Coimbatore VB. This train has been designated to travel through the Salem-Bengaluru Stretch via the Hosur Route, which is a single line located in difficult terrain encompassing multiple curves and is subject to multiple-speed restrictions. Therefore, regardless of whether it is a premium or non-premium train, both trains would take a similar amount of time to travel from Salem to Bengaluru via Hosur. Such factors also tend to hamper the occupancy of any premium service since the passenger would prefer travelling at a much more affordable rate (Ernakulam Intercity would cost just 190 rupees between Bengaluru-Coimbatore) on the same route when there exists a very minimal time difference (Maximum upto one hour). This is the typical Indian Middle-Class Mindset.

Are the Premium Trains being shown faster?

At certain routes, it just feels, that the premium trains are being shown to be faster over the non-premium category trains. This may not be the case in Northern India, since there is a stark difference in the travel time between premium and non-premium trains and multiple premium category trains run in the tracks of Northern India. But this holds relevance down south.

THE REGULAR DAY TRAINS BETWEEN BENGALURU-CHENNAI-BENGALURU

Though the above list might give an impression that there is a stark difference in the time of travel between the premium and non-premium trains, there exists a catch. The Intermediate Halts these Premium Trains make range between 2 to 3 whereas the other non-premium make 11 intermediate halts. A long stretch between Jolarpettai Junction to Chennai Central is a 130 km/h enabled section and all these trains are capable of clocking 130km/h because they are LHB Rakes (Except for the VBs).

Also, the non-premium trains are subject to overtakes by the premium trains which further slows down their travel time and questions the legacy of these prestigious trains. Post the Introduction of 20665/66- Tirunelveli-Chennai Egmore-Tirunelveli VB has increased the travel time of the prestigious Vaigai Express that runs between Madurai-Chennai Egmore-Madurai by atleast half an hour. I was shocked to witness the entry of Vaigai Express by a 40-minute delay at Trichy Junction in April 2024.

A similar issue was reported in the tracks of Kerala wherein post the introduction of the two VBs between Trivandrum-Kasargod (The Second Vande Bharat i.e. Orange VB was recently extended upto Mangaluru Central), multiple intercity trains suffered delays impacting commuters and the daily office goers using these trains. Train tends to be the cheapest and shortest mode of transport in the state of Kerala, hence people are largely dependent on these intercity trains.

I witnessed a large number of office returnees with season tickets boarding the reservation coaches of Allepey-Kannur Executive Express at Ernakulam Junction at around 17:30 hours while my return towards Ernakulam South from Allepey during my very recent solo backpacker expedition to Kerala. That blog shall land by this month's end.

It just feels at some point that Vande Bharat is overhyped in Southern India since other trains could have clocked the same speed if priority were given and stops were reduced.

Hence, the above instances are supportive of answering my above questions. But there are certain other aspects to focus on as well.

The Crowded Non-Premium Trains

Since Late 2016-17, the Indian Railway and its divisions have been converting the rakes from ICF to LHB and as a trick to increase the revenue, in the revised composition, the number of general and sleeper coaches has been decreased and the 3-tier and 2-tier A/C Coaches have been increased. For instance, the sleeper coaches have decreased from 12-13 to 5-7 in most of the trains bound down south from Chennai Egmore. The Same could be observed in the case of the trains running across India. Hence, the availability of sleeper classes in these trains tends to be on the Waitlist minutes after the booking opens in the IRCTC portal (Advance Booking of 120 days is allowed).

For instance, the transporter has been gradually ramping up the production of 3rd AC, AC 3 tier economy, 2nd AC, and 1st AC coaches where the fares are generally higher than non-AC classes. At the same time, the production of low-value sleeper and general coaches has been going down.

In 2019-20, the three coach manufacturing units of railways – Integral Coach Factory (Chennai), Rail Coach Factory (Kapurthala) and Modern Coach Factory (Raebareli) – produced just 997 coaches in 2019-20. This has been increased to 2,571 in the projected estimates for 2024-25. The production for sleeper coaches has been slashed by 86 per cent in the same period – from 1925 in 2019-20 to 278 in 2024-25. Even as the production of high-value coaches has jumped, the per-passenger revenue has moved up too – from Rs 62.66 in 2019-20 to Rs 107.15 in 2024-25.

As a consequence of this LHBfication of trains, we often have heard the news of overcrowded sleeper coaches in trains running up north to down south. At least some 300-350 people could be found travelling in the sleeper and general coaches of these trains. Some classic examples include the Coromandel Express, Howrah Mail, Sanghamitra Express, Patna-Ernakulam Express etc. These trains generally carry migrant populations that travel to and fro from up north for livelihood and survival down south, which is a separate discussion topic.

Though we blame the people who board these coaches with an Unreserved ticket (At times ticketless) or with Counter Waitlist Tickets, it is to be understood that they are not doing it wilfully either since the number of general coaches is minuscule and they resemble nothing short of hell. Now the situation has elevated downhill and people have started boarding the A/C coaches of the non-premium and at times the premium trains.

The Argument that the Railways give in favour of such a premium approach is that trains would get faster by reducing the number of non-A/C coaches. But this argument fails since it has been five years since the introduction of the first VB, and the Railways have failed to lay tracks suitable for running semi-high-speed trains. A Plethora of Premium Trainsets has been introduced without upgrading our track and safety infrastructure. This is a glaring problem considering the number of train accidents and derailments that have occurred for a while now.

There was a time when the Indian Railways was genuinely concerned about Middle-Class Melodies. Hence the premium service Garib Rath Express which consisted of 3 AC coaches with a side middle berth was introduced in 2006 to ensure that travel by an A/C coach was not an aspiration and the ticket fares in these trains are pretty much nominal. Since 2012, no new Garib Rath services have been introduced on the railway network in India.

TOP: The Future Interior of a Garib Rath i.e. THE 3 AC ECONOMY

Below: Old is Gold interior of the Garib Rath Express

In 2024, however, these old Garib Rath rakes are being upgraded to LHB rakes consisting of the 3 AC economy coaches without a Side Middle Berth exclusively as a replacement for the older coaches. I recently travelled from Ernakulam Town to Yesvantpur on train number 12258 Kochuveli-Yesvantpur Garib Rath Express, whose heritage rakes were converted to LHB last week.

If we say that there has been a Rise and Rise of Bharat, it would be a satire guys since there has just been only a Rise and Rise of Vande Bharat over the years. For Bharat to rise, there needs to be a proportionate number of Antodaya Expresses running in tandem with the Vande Bharat Expresses.

I rest my case with the statement!

Happy Travelling! As of 19th June 2024, there are 51 Vande Bharat Trains on the tracks.

Meanwhile...

Netrikann...Thirapinum...Kutram Kutrame!

i.e.

Even if you flash the third eye, fallacy will always remain fallacy.

Coming Very Soon... With heavy flurry strokes...