BACK DROP
The ‘Other Coaching’ segment of earning in
IR has been an area of concern for the policy makers at the apex level. Parcel traffic, which contributes a lion’s
share in the Other Coaching earning, is not taking off an anticipated path of
growth despite downward revision of tariff in the recent past. The dilemma thus continues, and IR is yet to
make a breakthrough in capturing high value parcel traffic.
East Coast Railway’s
performance on the ‘Other Coaching’ segment of traffic earnings remained
somewhat dismal (below the level of expectation) during its very first year of
functioning i.e. 2003-2004. As against
the Railway Board’s target of Rs. 20.19 Crs, only Rs. 17.78 Crs could be
mustered with all its efforts despite an unexpected growth in parcel traffic
during the first quarter of the year. The earning during the 1st
quarter of financial year is far from satisfactory as a negative trend of
growth over previous year has upset the projected level of traffic. Since parcel traffic contributes around 60%
of total earning in the ‘Other Coaching’ segment, the trend apparently seems to
be disturbing and needs thorough probing.
This special study is therefore aimed at:
i. Making an analytical review on the originating parcel traffic
of ECoR during past two years, both at the macro and micro level, in
juxtaposition with the trend during 1st quarter of 2004-05.
ii. Zero on the reasons for its declining trend in spite of
downward revision of rate for the parcel traffic.
iii. Recommend measures necessary for increasing parcel traffic of
IR in general & ECoR in particular.
METHODOLOGY
The analytical
study has been divided into two parts -
(a)
Micro level study
(b)
Macro level study
ii. At the micro level, five important ‘A’ Class stations
dealing with parcel traffic viz Puri (PUI) , Cuttack(CTC), Bhubaneswar(BBS),
Visakhapatnam(VSKP) and Vizainagaram(VZM) were selected. Two Sr. TIAs from the Reserve Force(RF) undertook an intricate study under the following terms of
reference-
F
Quantum of over-carried of parcel traffic (category-wise), and reasons
thereof
F
Cost of involvement in over carrying parcel traffic.
F
Adequacy of stoppage time at the destination point for unloading of
parcels.
F
Adequacy of space in the SLRs vis-ŕ-vis demands from the customers at
large.
F
Effect of revised tariff on the volume of parcel loading and earning
thereof.
iii. The macro level study, on the other
hand, has been undertaken by Sr.AFA(T) & Dy.FA&CAO(T) on the following
lines with reference to the base data collected at the micro level by the Sr.
TIAs(RF).
F
Co-relation of physical target with the financial performance for the
zone as a whole.
F
Impact of revised parcel tariff on the traffic pattern of ECoR.
F
Over carrying of parcel packages & reasons thereof.
MICRO LEVEL STUDY
FINDINGS:
The outcome of the study is summarized
station-wise as hereunder based on statements at APPENDIX- I & APPENDIX -II.
|
Station |
Salient
observations |
PUI
|
1. Parcels meant for destination stations like CTC,BBS,KUR,BLS,TATA, ROU, BSP, JSG,KGP,CKP,CPH,ANGL,TLHR etc. are getting overcarried to Puri by Trains nos.2816, 8478, 8007, 2802, 8406, 8401, 8404 & 8476 on a regular basis. 2. The average monthly lose of freight on account of such over-carriage works out to Rs.7.5 lakhs on a notional basis. 3. Several instances of multiple overcarrying of parcels, particularly perishable consignments were detected. A few instances are cited below. i) 40 (forty) bags of vegetable loaded at MLDT to GHY, by Train No.5639 was not unloaded at GHY and the same vegetables got overcarried to PUI by Train No.5640 of 8/5/2004. ii) One basket of fish loaded at PUI to TATA by Train No.8475. It did not get unloaded at TATA & over-carried to NDLS. The same basket got reloaded NDLS to TATA in Train No. 8476, but ultimately got over carried to PUI. iii) 2(two) baskets of fish loaded at PUI for KGP by Train No.2801 were not unloaded at KGP and got overcarried to NDLS. The fish baskets however did not get unloaded at NDLS and sent back by T.No.2802 & finally got unloaded at PUI on 31/05/04. 4. There has been an increase of 28.23% in
weight of Parcel traffic, but the earning has declined by 7.79% in comparison
to 2002-03 . |
|
BBS |
1. Parcels meant for destination stations like KUR,BAM,VSKP,PSA,VZM,CHE & PUI are getting overcarried to BBS by Trains No.7016,1019 & 8447 on a regular basis. 2. As a result of the above, Rly has been incurring an average monthly loss of freight to the tune of Rs.85,000/-. 3. There is an increase of 26.88% in weight of Parcel traffic, but the earning is less by 13.14% in comparison to 2002-03. |
|
CTC |
1. Overcarrying of packages to CTC is not there, but transhipment of Parcels are being dealt at CTC for TLHR,DNKL, JJKR & ANGL etc. 2. There is an increase of 12.56% in the volume of Parcel traffic,
but the earning has fallen down by 21.06% over 2002-03. |
|
VSKP |
1. Parcels meant for destination like BZA & HYB, BPQ, PVRT, AKP SLO KBJ TIG BIA, RIG & CBE by Trains No.8517, 8564, 7008, 8562, 226 & 2804 are getting over carried to VSKP as a matter of routine. 2. Because of over carrying of parcels, Rly is incurring an average monthly loss
of freight to the tune of Rs.20,000/-. 3. There is an increase of 20.63% in weight of
Parcel traffic, but the earning shows an increase of 6.66% only over the
year 2002-‘03. |
|
VZM |
1. Overcarried packages to VZM is mostly nil,
but transhipment Parcels are dealt at VZM for KIT,BAM, BALU, BBS, IPM, SPT
& PSA etc. 2. There is an increase of 125.72% in volume of Parcel traffic,
mainly due to upsurge in the seasonal mango traffic. The earning, however, shows an increase of
104.96% over 2002-03. |
CONCLUSIONS:
i.
The volume of
parcel traffic has shown an upward surge but there has been no commensurate
increase in the parcel earnings, as can be observed from the statement of
parcel earnings for the five important stations in ECoR. This is because of the implementation of the
new rationalized rate structure w.e.f. from 01.04.2003 (APPENDIX- IV),
which is service-based instead of commodity-based, as it used to be earlier.
ii. There is a great deal of mismatch
in the volume of traffic and the consequential earning because the ECoR has a
better share of perishable than the hard-parcel traffic.
iii. Incidence of claims in case of
perishable traffic is rather high because of indiscriminate over-carriage
mainly due to railway’s mismanagement.
iv. Overcarrying of parcel consignment
is resulting in substantial loss of freight indirectly besides incurrence of
extra-handling charges. The extent of overcarriage of parcels in ECoR at the
important stations and the reasons thereof are depicted in a statement at APPENDIX-II.
v. Market access is restrained due to
limited stoppage time in important trains, which do not get the roadside parcel
traffic that normally constitutes a significant portion of the total in East
Coast Railway.
vi. There is inadequacy of space in SLRs
attached to some of the important trains because of which parcel loading in
some important stations get restricted below the level of demand.
MACRO LEVEL STUDY
FINDINGS:
i Statement at APPENDIX-III reflects an unprecedented growth of parcel traffic to the extent
of 49.50% during 2003-‘04 as compared to 2002-‘03.
ii. The incremental traffic of 49.5% however did not
contribute commensurately to the increase in earnings i.e. 20% only during 2003-’04.
iii.
Such mismatch
between the physical and financial performance is directly attributable to the
new rate structure implemented w.e.f. 01/04/2003 (APPENDIX- IV).
iv. While the new rationalized rate structure was
primarily aimed at boosting up the growth in parcel traffic, it failed to
generate growth or rather sustain the existing pace of growth. Hence the downward revision of parcel tariff
has no doubt proved counter productive.
CONCLUSIONS:
i The service-based revision of rate
structure is lopsided that does not envisage equitable benefit to perishables
unlike the hard parcel. This has a telling effect on the falling trend of
perishable parcel in ECoR.
ii. An introspection to our present
system of working reveals that there is disproportionate emphasis in generation
of revenue in all segments of traffic earning.
Our traditional focus has remained all along with passenger and goods
segments, while the Other Coaching & Sundry have been left to perform on
their own.
iii. Due to lack of proper marketing
efforts, the incremental traffic both in the major and intermediate stations
has not been brought to a desired level.
Moreover, the traditional evils in our system of working as mentioned
hereunder, has jeopardized our
incremental growth of parcel traffic despite having scope to increase.
iv.
The quota
allotment of SLR spaces has not been fine-tuned to ensure need-based equitable
share of space.
v.
Over-carriage
of parcel has been continuing as an enigma since long.
1.
East
Coast Railway has a better share of perishable traffic than the hard parcels
whereby wide scale fluctuation exists in the parcel traffic during a year
resulting in mismatch between the physical output and financial
performance. Hence, our marketing
efforts should be focused on capturing the perishable traffic, which otherwise
is getting diverted to road because of lackadaisical attitude, customer
alienated approach on the part of Railways.
2.
To bring down the volume of overcarriage of
parcels, the following remedial measures need to be given due weightage at
appropriate level.
i)
Inside latches
of doors of brake vans should be removed and safety should be ensured while
providing padlocks by the Guard of the train.
ii)
The size of
the inside handles of the brake van doors should be minimized so that it will
not cause any jamming at the time of opening on station platforms.
iii)
The loading should
be done uniformly by following geographic order.
iv)
Specially
trained & physically fit license porters should be engaged for loading
& unloading of parcels to curtail on the detention time of
passenger/express train.
v)
Defective
brake van doors should be rectified at the stations before loading of the
parcels.
3.
Utility of
SLR quota should
be reviewed at
periodical intervals in
order to make a match
of
demand & supply at various
station locations. In order to assess the demand situation, there should be
periodical interaction/meeting with regular & prospective customers at the
level of Commercial Officers. Customer- friendly measures need to be taken in
the right earnest to win back the lost/diverted parcel traffic to road sector.
4.
A
proper market study should be taken up by the Commercial department in order to
assess the potential of perishable
traffic within ECoR’s territory, like fish, betel leaves, mango etc. After duly evaluating various options of
route by undertaking costing exercises, special parcel train at periodical gap
can be planned to woo the customers at large.
5.
Long distance Express/Mail trains
originating in ECoR and running with half-empty or near empty SLRs should be
offered on leasing to transport service agents through open tender for the
railway to avail optimum benefit in terms of volume & earning.
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