Prepared by FA&CAO/Traffic SOUTHERN RAILWAY 1 CONTENTS TOPICS PAGE NO. PREFACE 3 INTRODUCTION 4 TATKAL SYSTEM 4 TABLES Train No. From To Train Name 12657 MAS SBC BANGALORE MAIL 5 12658 SBC MAS CHENNAI MAIL 6 12673 MAS CBE CHERAN EXPRESS 7 12674 CBE MAS CHERAN EXPRESS (Return) 8 16669 MAS ED YERCAUD EXPRESS 9 16670 ED MAS YERCAUD EXPRESS (Return) 10 16177 MS KMU ROCKFORT EXPRESS 11 16178 KMU MS ROCKFORT EXP. (Return) 12 12637 MS MDU PANDIAN EXPRESS 13 12638 MDU MS PANDIAN EXPRESS (Return) 14 16222 MAS MYS KAVERI EXPRESS 15 16221 MYS MAS KAVERI EXPRESS (Return) 16 12671 MAS MTP NILGIRI EXPRESS 17 12672 MTP MAS NILGIRI EXPRESS (Return) 18 12631 MS TEN NELLAI EXPRESS 19 12632 TEN MS NELLAI EXPRESS (Return) 20 12633 MS CAPE KANYAKUMARI EXPRESS 21 12634 CAPE MS KANYAKUMARI EXP. (Ret) 22 16723 MS TVC ANANTHAPURI EXPRESS 23 16041 MAS ALLP ALLEPPEY EXPRESS 25 16042 ALLP MAS ALLEPPEY EXPRESS (Return) 26 16724 TVC MS ANANTHAPURI EXP. (Ret) 27 16627 MAS MAQ WEST COAST EXPRESS 28 16628 MAQ MAS WEST COAST EXP. (Return) 30 12695 MAS TVC TRIVANDRUM EXPRESS 32 12696 TVC MAS TRIVANDRUM EXP. (Return) 33 OUTCOME OF ANALYSIS 34 SINGLE FARE SECTOR 34 TWO FARE SECTOR 35 THREE FARE SECTOR 35 FOUR FARE SECTOR 36 ADDITIONAL FARE SECTOR 36 SUMMARY OF ANALYSIS 37 INFERENCE 39 SUGGESTIONS – MAIN 39 ADVANCE RESERVATION PERIOD AND TATKAL QUOTA 39 ADDITIONAL GENERAL SUGGESTIONS 40 CONCLUSION 41 2 TRAIN BASED RESTRUCTURING OF PASSENGER FARES PREFACE: The telescopic and distance slab basis passenger fare structure is followed by the railways for a long time without adopting any major changes except for some minor adjustment in distance slabs, reservation restriction upto minimum distances for some selected trains etc. Designating trains as super-fast, etc. is another option available for making additional income out of passenger services. Invariably the basic fare manipulation attracts dissent and become sensitive for the railways to implement revision of passenger fare as such, except for the introduction of tatkal scheme. This situation warrants and necessitates identification of alternate methods of manipulation for augmenting income out of passenger trains. Of late the passengers’ travel pattern is registering a paradigm shift as there is a specific preference of trains for journeys between specific pair of points. The impact of this change of preferences is reflected in the booking patterns of the trains in various sectors. The presumable reasons for this paradigm shift are, the perpetual addition of direct trains to more and more destinations, the increase in frequency of train services i.e., multiple trains operating in individual sectors, the value added services like Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duranto, etc,. Thus passengers are presented with multiple options to select the train for the respective journeys according to their requirements. This changing dynamics of passengers’ preferences opens new avenues for augmenting revenue, as this change has inherently generated an option for the railways to review and change the existing fare fixing system based on distance slabs and telescopic concept into train based fare fixing concept. i.e., to fix individual train specific fares, for various pair of points covered by the respective trains. Since this methodology has not been explored by the railways so far, an effort is made in this direction. Further the concept of tatkal scheme also needs a review for effective utilization so as to improve earnings out of this scheme. 3 INTRODUCTION: This exercise is about evolving alternate methodology to meet the need for rationalizing the railway passenger fare structure commensurate with the contemporary requirements and finding out options available for enhancing the railway revenues within the ambit of the existing fare limits. This study is in continuation to the earlier proposal of restructuring of passenger fare related to the Thiruvananthapuram Mail. Since the concept of paradigm shift of passengers’ preference is the basis for the presumption that there is sufficient scope for introduction of alternate method of passenger fare restructuring, it’s essential that, the changing pattern of patronage of the passengers, is understood and explained properly. Accordingly 13 pairs of night trains were selected, and the occupancy and de boarding information of entire length of the journey of the respective trains for the whole month of May 2012 were analyzed. These trains are in three distance groups i.e., trains running Upto 400 Kms., 400 to 600 Kms., and beyond 600 Kms. The train wise patronage is tabulated class wise, with the findings and recommendations thereof. TATKAL SYSTEM: The TATKAL system at present allows the issue of reservation tickets only in the previous day of the journey, while most of the train’s reservation of berths and seats are completed well in advance as the 120 days period is very long. The waiting list starts much before, and further selling of berths through the tatkal ticket are postponed till the last day before the journey. This also needed review. 4 Station-wise and Class-wise List of Passengers and Demand Flow Report For Train No.12657 - MAS - SBC MAIL From Date: 1-5-2012 To Date:31-5-2012 1A 2A 3A SL % Total % Total Station Total DE % DE DE % DE DE % DE DE % DE Total DE DE Code Board Board Board Board Board board board board board board board board board Board board board MAS 571 0 0 3028 0 0 6281 0 0 31344 0 0 41224 99 0 0 AJJ 0 1 0 13 1 0 10 0 0 147 1 0 170 0 3 0 KPD 1 0 0 1 4 0 2 34 1 98 24 0 102 0 62 0 JTJ 1 0 0 1 6 0 0 7 0 19 14 0 21 0 27 0 BWT 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 16 0 0 196 1 2 0 215 1 BNCE 0 1 0 0 8 0 0 8 0 0 108 0 0 0 125 0 BNC 0 32 6 0 53 2 0 156 2 0 1118 4 0 0 1359 3 SBC 0 539 94 0 2970 98 0 6072 96 0 30147 95 0 0 39728 96 Total 573 573 100 3045 3045 100 6293 6293 100 31608 31608 100 41519 100 41519 100 1. The patronage of passengers for Train No.12657 – Chennai – Bangalore Mail is only for Bangalore area i.e., 99%. 2. There is only 1% of patronage for Bangarpet (BWT) which is very negligible. 3. Hence, the entire journey distance fits in a single Sector distance for fare structure. 4. The fare differences for the intermediate stations will not affect the passengers and, therefore the fare structure of a single Sector will have to be applied for this train. i.e. this train’s journey will cost an uniform single fare to all passengers travelling by this train, irrespective of the pair of points the journey is performed. 5 Station-wise and Class-wise List of Passengers and Demand Flow Report For Train No.12658 - SBC - MAS MAIL. From Date: 1-5-2012 To Date:31-5-2012 1A 2A 3A SL % Total % Total Station Total DE DE DE DE Total DE DE Code Board Net Board Net Board Net Board Net Board board board board board Board board board SBC 543 0 0 2890 0 0 5879 0 0 29226 0 0 38538 94 0 0 BNC 34 0 0 91 0 0 228 0 0 1325 0 0 1678 4 0 0 BWT 2 0 0 12 0 0 33 2 0 350 0 0 397 1 2 0 JTJ 0 0 0 5 4 0 26 0 0 15 25 0 46 0 29 0 KPD 0 2 0 6 7 0 28 25 0 60 288 1 94 0 322 1 AJJ 0 0 0 13 4 0 26 7 0 8 212 1 47 0 223 1 MAS 0 577 100 0 3002 100 0 6186 99 0 30459 98 0 0 40224 99 TOTAL 579 579 100 3017 3017 100 6220 6220 100 30984 30984 100 40800 100 40800 100 1. The patronage of passengers for Train No.12658 – Bangalore - Chennai Mail is only from Bangalore (SBC) i.e., 98% to Chennai (MAS) i.e., 99%. 2. There is only 1% of patronage for boarding from Bangarpet (BWT) and 1% each for KPD & AJJ for de-boarding which are very negligible. 3. The fare differences for the intermediate stations will not affect the passengers and, therefore the fare structure of a single Sector will have to be applied for this train. i.e. this train’s journey will cost an uniform single fare to all passengers travelling by this train, irrespective of the pair of points the journey is performed. 6 Station-wise and Class-wise List of Passengers and Demand Flow Report For Train No.12673 - MAS - CBE - Cheran Express From Date: 1-5-2012 To Date:31-5-2012 1A 2A 3A SL Station Total % Total Total % Total % De % De % De % De Code Board Deboard Board Deboard Board Deboard Board Deboard Board Board Deboard Deboard board board board board MAS 320 0 0 2252 0 0 8356 0 0 29708 0 0 40636 98 0 0 AJJ 1 0 0 32 0 0 45 0 0 492 0 0 570 1 0 0 JTJ 0 0 0 4 1 0 20 18 0 130 11 0 154 0 30 0 SA 0 11 3 1 36 2 11 94 1 72 414 1 84 0 555 1 ED 1 13 4 0 102 4 2 244 3 21 1300 4 24 0 1659 4 TUP 0 34 11 0 207 9 0 637 8 0 3141 10 0 0 4019 10 CBF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 6 0 0 0 14 0 CBE 0 264 82 0 1943 85 0 7433 88 0 25551 84 0 0 35191 85 TOTAL 322 322 100 2289 2289 100 8434 8434 100 30423 30423 100 41468 100 41468 100 1.