Now, 35 low-cost, a/c trains to connect state capitals
Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s ‘garib rath’ appears to be a serious threat to the budget airlines. Indian Railways plans to roll out 35 air-conditioned low-cost trains to wean away passengers from no-frill air carriers.
By Rajat Guha, TNN |
NEW DELHI: Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s ‘garib rath’ appears to be a serious threat to the budget airlines. Indian Railways plans to roll out 35 air-conditioned low-cost trains to wean away passengers from no-frill air carriers.
These trains, expected to connect all important cities, will be 40% cheaper than prevailing passenger fares for a/c three-tier. An announcement to this effect is likely to be made by the rail minister in the rail budget ’07.
“The idea is to connect all state capitals by the end of ’08,” a senior government official said. It is expected that such trains will also run between Delhi and Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata and Delhi and Bangalore.
Early this month, Mr Prasad launched the first low-cost all air-conditioned trains, bringing down a/c sleeper class fare between Amritsar and Saharsa to Rs 695. In a normal train, the fare for a/c sleeper class for similar distance is Rs 1,179.
An official in the Rail Bhawan said: “The distance between Delhi and Mumbai is around 1,420 km which is less than the distance between Saharsa and Amritsar. Hence, we expect such trains connecting metros would be even more profitable. Garib raths are based on market principle of demand and supply and make business sense for Railways.”
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The ministry hopes to make profit on the garib rath by increasing number of coaches in each train and by slashing down the cost per passenger. “We are simply playing in volumes and cutting costs. By doing so we are going to run garib rath on profit and not on subsidy or loss,” he said. Railways believe that reduction in train fares would help to inveigle travellers from budget airlines. “These trains can even give us margins more than Rajdhani,” he added. Airlines, however, see no competition from such trains. “They would never be able to match us in speed and time,” said GoAir managing director Jeh Wadia.
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