Cheap Air travel set to eat into Railways' clientele

Is the Railways set to lose its sheen to Air travel?

Government analysis has brought to light some scary statistics that show that more than 25% of domestic air travel happens over inter-city distances within 500 km — a segment where previously the Railways cherished an unchallenged monopoly.

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Reuters

Airlines to emerge as the new ruler

Within the course of the next 3 years, domestic airlines in India will overtake the Rail travel as the country's most preferred mode of long-distance travel for middle and upper-class passengers, raising an official red alert over the mammoth national transporter losing a giant clientele to the booming domestic airlines sector.

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Reuters

A red-flag alert for the Railways

While speed has always provided a better edge for airlines, budget-friendly pricing and smoother passenger services is now allowing them an extra advantage, and the two factors are proving to be a lethal combination for the Railways which needs to take up service upgradation on an urgent basis.

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Reuters

Now or never

The Railways had already been in news lately for being slammed by the CAG for its poor quality customer services.

With this latest estimation, the report should serve as a “wake up call”, and require clear cut strategies on pricing and capacity augmentation.

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YouTube

Airlines becoming people's new favourite

As the Railways continue being lax in mending its old habits of poor quality service, air travel is clearly and rapidly emerging as the most opted mode of travel for both short and long haul distances.

With the proliferation of airports into small towns and massive thrust of low-cost airlines to Tier-II and III cities, chances are extremely slim the Railways can match up to this strong, new competitor before its too late.

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Too strong a rival?

Alongside airfares coming closer to rail fares, proactive government policies like UDAAN, provides much cheaper air travel for less than an hour's distance is also providing impetus to the civil aviation sector.

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Reuters

A downhill way

The number of total passengers carried by domestic airlines has been spiking towards the 100-million mark for the last few years whereas the comparable classes on Indian Railways — First AC, AC-II and III has been on a continuous downhill.

From a growth of 9.5% in FY15, it shrunk to 5% in FY16.

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