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Mumbai suburban railway starved of funds

Our Bureau

MUMBAI, Feb. 20

THE importance of Mumbai for the Indian Railways and thereby the annual Railway Budget is best contained in the statistic that a 55.35 per cent of all people travelling by trains every day in India, is accounted for by this metro's suburban railway syste m.

An estimated 11.2 million people travel daily by train on the Indian Railways network. Of this, approximately 6.2 million people belong to that army of commuters who count on suburban rail services -- offered by the Central and Western Railways -- to tra verse Mumbai's linear lay-out.

Within the metro, the Central Railway -- along with its offshoot, the Harbour Line -- operates 1083 trains connecting 67 stations and ferrying 3.2 million commuters, every day.

The slightly smaller Western Railway operations, ferries daily 2.8 million passengers over 902 services linking 28 stations.

Together, the two divisions operate the world's biggest suburban railway system. As the parent Indian Railways (which skipped dividend payment last year to conserve funds) tries to meet stretched investment commitments to the tune of Rs 43,000 crore all over, funds to upgrade Mumbai's suburban system -- and thereby the travelling comfort of 55.35 per cent of Indian Railways' clientele -- has to fight for priority in the larger scheme of things.

Traffic on the system is growing at the rate of 0.5-1 per cent per annum, a senior Indian Railways official said. The modest rise, is itself a statistical quirk for packed to 4500-5000 people per train (against installed capacity of 1500) during peak hou rs, more tickets to meet demand is just impossible.

In principle, the fight for priority in funding will not be forever because last year the Government set up the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) as a 50:50 joint venture between the Indian Railways and the Maharashtra State Government, to implement t he city's suburban projects.

The MRVC is an autonomous corporation, a status reportedly sought by the chosen financier -- the World Bank -- which felt more comfortable lending to such an agency than the Government itself.

However, against its start-up equity capital of Rs 25 crore, the MRVC is scheduled to implement projects cumulatively worth Rs 5,014 crore.

It is negotiating to get a Rs 6,000 crore-loan from the World Bank, the funds being yet to land.

``Without the loan the MRVC would find it difficult to work, as alternatives such as a special cess are unthinkable,'' a Railway official said.

In the interim, as the traditional guardian of Mumbai's network, the Indian Railways has no option but to keep funding the suburban system's development needs. Amidst competing calls on available cash, sanctions have not kept pace with actual project cos t.

For example, the quadrupling of the Borivili -- Virar suburban line, estimated to cost Rs 408 crore has got so far just Rs 80 crore over the last two years.

This aside, respecting the thrust on non-operational income in recent Railway Budgets, the two divisions here are examining the scope for commercial exploitation of land and air space -- the suburban stations of Thane, Kalyan, Kurla, Bandra, Andheri and Borivili being currently studied by RITES for the same.

Western Railway officials additionally said that as a small beginning to leasing out bandwidth on their captive optical fibre cable (OFC) network, private companies such as Dishnet and Bharati Telecom have moved in as clients. Both divisions have impleme nted last Budget's promised long distance train services -- five on Western Railway and three on Central Railway.

As an autonomous body the Konkan Railway Corporation (KRC) is outside the purview of the Railway Budget. But not fully, since the Indian Railways helps out considerably in softening the impact of KRC's interest burden and lease charges incurred through s ale and lease-back arrangement for its railway line entered into earlier with the lenders' consortium.

Outgo on lease charges totals Rs 20 crore a year while interest payment is pegged at Rs 80-90 lakhs every day, a KRC official said. The KRC, battling low freight volume and inadequate traffic, is able to cover staff cost and expense of running trains fro m income generated. But on debt repayment and leasing, Indian Railways support is needed and annually estimated in receipt at about Rs 250-300 crore.

Something the KRC looks to find as a promise renewed, in every Railway Budget.