Railways: Choice versus Competition—V

Every year, the railways add 1,800 new coaches. But the zonal General Manager has no choice about what to do with them. Such centralization of decision-making is hardly rational.

In my last piece, I had mentioned LHB (Linke-Hofmann-Busch) coaches. IR (Indian Railways) has been using LHB coaches since 2000. But not all coaches are LHB. Nor is all new production of LHB coaches, at least, not yet.

LHB coaches are better. They can handle higher speeds, of say 170 km/hour. They are lighter, 40 tonnes, against 50 tonnes for older ICF coaches. They are a little bit longer, so regardless of the interior design of the coach, an additional passenger capacity of 10 to 15% more per coach. If there is a head-on collision, they are safer. The suspension system is better, so journeys are more comfortable, with one caveat.

If production takes off in the new coach factories in Rae Bareli, Palakkad and Kolar, we should be able to produce 3,200 new LHB coaches per year. Today, the estimated annual demand for coaches (not just LHB) is 5,000 a year and production is around 3,000. Therefore, there is a shortage. Do realize that the 3,000 is a gross figure, not net. Around 1,200 old coaches are junked every year, having completed their lifespans. Only 1,800 represents net addition. If you are on a train and it is one of the better trains, the likelihood is that it is a LHB coach.

I mentioned a caveat about comfortable rides on a LBH coach and that concerns coupling, the way coaches are attached to one another and to the locomotive. A digression on locomotives first. Since I mentioned the train numbering system earlier, I might as well mention the numbering on locomotives, especially because this series of articles has carried pictures of locomotives, with symbols like WDM3.

That first symbol refers to the gauge and W will be broad gauge. The second symbol refers to what is used to power the locomotive. D is diesel, C is DC electric, A is AC electric and so on. The third symbol tells us what the locomotive is supposed to do. G stands for goods, P for passenger, M for mixed etc.

Do realize that a goods locomotive is typically different from a passenger locomotive and is made differently. A goods locomotive is meant to carry heavier loads, with speed being less important. It is the reverse for a passenger locomotive. The fourth symbol is for HP (horse power), 3 meaning 3000 HP.

It is remarkably easy to drive a locomotive, at least the acceleration part. (I have personally driven one at the Diesel Locomotive Works in Varanasi.) It is a bit like driving a car with automatic transmission. But slowing down a locomotive and braking it smoothly is exceedingly difficult. There are jerks and shudders, like releasing the clutch in a car with manual transmission. But also do appreciate, when criticizing a locomotive driver who does not brake fast enough when a car crosses his path at an unmanned level crossing, a train is not a car. Even if he brakes fast enough, it will be 1 km before the train stops.

To return to the caveat, earlier ICF coaches had something called screw coupling. In the late-1990s, when a decision was taken to switch to LBH, IR opted for something called centre-buffer coupling. Without getting into technicalities, have you seen drivers or guards of metro trains uncoupling coaches? Have you seen that happen in developed countries? That contingency doesn’t arise. When uncoupling has to be done, it is done by skilled engineers in workshops.

Here, the idea was that any driver or guard of a long-distance train should be able to uncouple a coach, should that contingency arise. In hindsight, this was probably a wrong decision, to opt for LBH coaches with centre-buffer coupling. When the driver of your train brakes, you will feel no shudders on an ICF rake. But you will feel the shudders on an LBH rake. Incidentally, all the coaches on the rake will have to be of the same type, ICF or LBH. You can’t mix and match.

Locomotives are adaptable and can be attached to either type of rake. There has been a lot of resentment about “premium” and “special” trains, often legitimate. If a train is described as “premium” and you pay a higher fare, you expect the rake to be superior. Perhaps you expect a pantry car and catering. But that’s not quite the way it works. If I ignore Kolkata Metro, IR has 16 zones, headed by a GM (General Manager). Each zone is divided into zones, headed by a DRM (Divisional Railway Manager). To state it mildly, the determination of zones and divisions hasn’t been determined by rational considerations, politics often having a role to play.

To take one example, North Western Railway has its headquarters in Jaipur and divisions in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Ajmer. West Central Railway has its headquarters in Jabalpur and divisions in Jabalpur, Bhopal and Kota. Where is Kota? It is in Rajasthan and is much better connected with Jaipur than with Jabalpur. So why is the Kota division part of West Central and not part of North Western?

I will revisit this issue of zones/divisions later. For the moment, the Railway Board allocates those 3,000 coaches a year to different zones. To refresh your memory, 1,800 are new coaches and 1,200 are replacements for old coaches. Since the 1,200 are replacements, the GM can do whatever he/she wants to do with them. But for the 1,800 new ones, the Railway Board determines what the GM can do with these, that is, the trains to which they have to be attached.

What happens when you buy a car? Having chosen the car, you decide on the accessories and upholstery. Not so for a GM. The GM has little choice in the matter. He/she takes what is given. Such centralization of decision-making is hardly rational.

What is a “special”? Think of something like a “puja” special. We know well in advance when the pujas are supposed to happen. Why can’t we announce the “puja” special three months in advance? It then gets time-tabled, built into the time-table. There is time to decide on the composition of the rake. This is what used to happen once upon a time. Today, the specials (and I not talking about specials that are used for say evacuation in the case of sudden emergencies) are decided at the last minute.

A GM, more commonly a DRM, has to scavenge whatever coaches there are to put together a rake. These aren’t good coaches. Since they aren’t time-tabled, premium or special, they get short shrift commercially. You take care of time-tabled trains first. For premiums and specials, especially when one is charging higher prices through dynamic pricing, I think two things must be done and both are easy to implement. First, they must have better coaches, such as LBH. Second, they must be time-tabled.