When Trains Become Sardine Cans: Why Indian Trains Are Always Overcrowded?

Multiple times, people from India and outside of India have complained about the dirtiness of Indian Railways. And when I say dirty, I mean that the general compartments, as compared to the third, second, or first AC, are still a little cleaner. However, there are several reasons behind this awful condition.

Population density: There are often a huge number of unreserved tickets in the general compartment. Let me explain the system of Indian Railways: on average, an AC First Class coach has 18 to 24 berths, a 2-Tier AC coach has 50 berths, a 3-Tier AC coach has 70 berths, and a Sleeper coach has 80 berths. Now, about 90 can travel in an unreserved coach, but sometimes there are more than 90 - in fact, around 180 people are there in the general compartment.

1. Replacement of general compartments:

 In August, Indian Railways asked regional authorities to convert reserved sleeper coaches into unreserved open seats to reduce overcrowding. What's the reason behind this? In 2005, AC compartments accounted for 23% of berths, and sleeper class berths accounted for 77%. But in the last 18 years, these numbers have changed a lot. In 2023, sleeper berths have reduced to 46% in Indian Railways, which has been replacing sleeper or second-class coaches with AC coaches. For example, at Mangalore Central Railway Station, a sleeper coach was replaced with an AC 3-tier economy class coach a few months ago. Later, in three different trains, a general second-class coach was replaced with an AC 3-tier economy class coach. In our country, many people cannot afford an AC coach because Railways have reduced their quantity in recent years. Earlier, in 24-coach trains, there were four general compartments; now there are only two left. General compartments have been replaced with three-tier AC coaches, which are more profitable for Indian Railways. This has increased in Central, Northern, and Western Railway zones.

2. Reduction of unreserved coaches: 

Apart from that, after the Vande Bharat Express, the Indian Railways has discontinued the Jan Sadharan trains, introduced in 2002. These trains were completely unreserved, and passengers could board them with a general compartment ticket. The objective of these trains was to provide an affordable way for the public to travel, for people who couldn't travel on reserved trains because the target customers were low-income migrant workers. The prices of the tickets were kept lower, so these trains were a loss for Railways. But eventually, Railways decided to discontinue these trains. So, the trains with affordable compartments are also being reduced. Apart from this, Jan Sadharan trains have also been removed, as a result, the rest of the general compartments have become overcrowded.

3. Delay and cancellation of trains:

 On 14th November 2023, a special train was arranged for passengers for Diwali and Chhath Puja, but suddenly, this train was cancelled. These passengers were migrant workers who didn't have much money and had no way to go home for Diwali, so they got angry and started creating a ruckus at the station. In the last 4.5 years, more than 1 lakh mail and express trains have been cancelled - almost 3 trains are cancelled every hour in our country. Even if we remove the 5,000 trains that were cancelled during Covid-19, more than 1 lakh trains still remain. Indian Railways started around 6,700 special trains, which was twice as many as last year.

4. Shortage of train tracks:

 The problem in our country is not only with the trains but with the tracks. We can increase the number of trains, but where will the new railway tracks come from? According to the 2018 report by Niti Aayog, between 1950 and 2013, the number of trains increased by more than 1000%, but during this period, the length of the track increased only by 23%. Similarly, heavy traffic on our railway tracks means that when special trains are added, they increase the traffic, and some of them get delayed or cancelled. Besides this, the routes of goods and passenger trains are the same. Last year, due to the coal shortage, Indian Railways prioritized the trains that carry coal with them, as a result, many passenger trains got cancelled.

5. High operating ratio:

 CAG reports said that Indian Railways' financial condition has entered a concern zone in 2021 because their operating ratio is 107%, which is the highest in their history. What does 107% operating ratio mean? It means that to earn 100 rupees, Indian Railways has to spend 107 rupees. The government says that this happened in 2021 because they couldn't earn much due to Covid-19, but data shows that since 2016, the operating ratio of Indian Railways has been more than 100%. In fact, in nine out of 17 zones, the operating ratio is more than 100%. The main reason for this is that ticket prices are low.

Conclusion: 

In a nutshell, Indian Railways don't have enough money. All of the above reasons contribute to the overcrowding of the general compartments, as a result, the poor migrant workers have to suffer this way during their journey. I will talk about the solutions in some other blog; for now, please let me know if I can add something else in the comments. Thanks!