Full
Length Research Paper
Indian Railway System as
a Hub and Spoke: Opportunities & Challenges
Krunal
Hareshkumar Rajyaguru1[*]
Prof. Dr. Pratapsinh Chauhan 2
1* Research Scholar, Department of Business Management
Saurashtra University, Rajkot, Gujarat, India.
2 Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, Govind Guru University – Godhra, Gujarat, India
ARTICLE DETAILS ABSTRACT
- Introduction
Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under
the ownership of
the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India that operates India's
national railway system. As of 2023, it manages the fourth largest national
railway system by size with a running track length of
104,647 km (65,025 mi) and route length of 68,426 km
(42,518 mi) of which 60,451 km (37,563 mi) is electrified. With more than 1.2 million
employees, it is the world's ninth-largest employer and India's second largest employer. The
first steam operated railway operated in 1837
in Madras with
the first passenger operating in 1853 between Bombay and Thane. In 1925, the
first electric train ran in Bombay on DC traction.
The first locomotive manufacturing unit was commissioned in 1950 at Chittaranjan with the first coach
manufacturing unit set-up at Madras in 1955. Various companies operating railways across the country were
re-organized into six regional zones in 1951, which were gradually expanded to
19 zones.
Indian Railways runs various classes
of express, passengers and suburban trains. In 2018–19, it operated
13,523 trains on average daily covering 7,325 stations and carried 8.44 billion
passengers. Indian Railways also operates different classes of rail freight transport. In 2022–23, it operated
8,479 trains on average daily and transported 1418.1 million tons of freight.
Indian Railways operates multiple classes of rolling stock,
manufactured by self-owned coach-production facilities.
As of March 2022, Indian Railways' rolling stock consisted
of 318,196 freight wagons and 84,863 passenger coaches. As of December 2023, Indian
Railways had 10,238 electric and 4,543 diesel locomotives amongst
others. Indian Railways (IR) is a governmental entity under the Ministry of Railways which operates
India's national railway system. It is run by the government as a public good and manages the third-largest
railway network in the world by size, with a route length of
68,155 km (42,350 mi) as of March 2019. 40,576 km
(25,213 mi) or 64% of all the broad-gauge routes are electrified
with 25 kV 50 Hz AC electric traction as
of August 2020. In the fiscal year ending March 2019, IR carried 844 crore
(8.44 billion) passengers and transported 123 crore (1.23 billion)
tons of freight. IR runs 13,523 passenger trains daily, on both long-distance and suburban routes, covering 7,321 stations across
India. Mail or Express trains, the most common types,
run at an average speed of 50.6 km/h (31.4 mph). Suburban EMUs run at
an average speed of 37.5 km/h (23.3 mph). Ordinary Passenger Trains
(incl. mixed) run at an average speed of 33.5 km/h
(20.8 mph). The maximum speed of passenger trains varies, with
the Vande Bharat Express running at a peak
speed of 180 km/h (110 mph).
In the freight segment, IR runs more
than 9,146 trains daily. The average speed of freight trains is around
24 km/h (15 mph). The maximum speed of freight trains varies from 60
to 75 km/h (37 to 47 mph) depending on their axle load with
'container special' trains running at a peak speed of 100 km/h
(62 mph). The government has committed to electrifying
India's entire rail network by 2023–24, and become a
"net-zero (carbon emissions) railway" by 2030.
1.1 Structure
Indian Railways is a legally
mandated entity that operates under the government's ownership, specifically
the Ministry of Railways. The Railway Board, consisting of four members, is led
by a chairman who is accountable to the government of Railways and acts on
behalf of the government. The organizational structure consists of distinct
verticals, namely traction, engineering, traffic, rollingstock, signaling,
materials, personnel, RPF, finance, and health and safety.
Indian Railways is divided into 18
administrative zones (17 operational), headed by general managers which are
further subdivided into 71 operating divisions, headed by
divisional railway managers (DRM). The divisional officers of the
respective operating verticals report to the DRMs and divisional heads and are
tasked with the operation and maintenance of assets. Station master’s control
individual stations and train movements through their stations'
territory. In addition, there are a number of manufacturing
units, training establishments, PSUs and other undertakings under the
purview of the Indian Railways.
Indian Railways is headed by a
seven-member Railway Board whose chairman reports to the Ministry of Railways. The Railway Board
also acts as the Ministry of Railways. The officers manning the office of
Railway Board are mostly from organized Group A Railway Services and Railway Board Secretariat Service. IR is
divided into 18 zones, headed by general managers who report to the Railway
Board. The zones are further subdivided into 68 operating divisions, headed by
divisional railway managers (DRM). The divisional officers of the
engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecommunication, stores,
accounts, personnel, operating, commercial, security and safety branches report
to their respective DRMs and are tasked with the
operation and maintenance of assets. Station master’s control individual
stations and train movements through their stations' territory. In addition,
there are several production units, training establishments, public sector enterprises
and other offices working under the control of the Railway Board.
Fig. 1 Close-up of a locomotive with the classification and number; WDM3A
indicates a Broad gauge (W), Diesel (D),
Mixed use (M), 3100 HP (3A) locomotive
The first trains in the 1800s were
hauled by imported steam locomotives. In 1877, the first locomotive was
built in India. Electric locomotives were introduced in 1925 and diesel
locomotives later in 1954. By 1990s, steam locomotives were phased out and
are currently operated only on mountain and on heritage trains.
Locomotives are classified by track gauge (broad/meter/narrow/narrower), motive power (electric/diesel/battery),
function (passenger/goods/mixed), power rating (x1000 HP) and
model in a four or five letter code. The locomotives may be Longer Hood Front (LHF),
where the driver cabin is behind the hood of the engine or Short Hood Front (SHF),
where the cabin is located towards the front. Multiple units (MU) are
propelled by locomotives integrated with train-sets. In 2015, the first Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) powered MUs
were rolled out by ICF. In 2018, the semi-high speed self-propelled Vande
Bharat train-set was rolled out from ICF. Locomotives are manufactured by
five owned manufacturing units of the Indian Railways and BHEL. As of 2021, 37% of the trains
are operated by diesel locomotives and rest mostly by electric
locomotives. As of December 2023, Indian Railways had 10,238 electric and
4,543 diesel locomotives amongst others.
2.1 Passenger coaches
Fig.
2 a ICH Coach Fig.
2 b LHB Coach
The early rail coaches were based on a
prototype by a Swiss company and
were termed as ICF coaches after Integral coach factory (ICF), the first
coach manufacturing unit in India. These coaches, manufactured from 1955
to 2018, were largely in use till the early 2010s. From the late 1990s, the
ICF coaches were replaced by safer and newer LHB coaches designed
by Linke-Hofmann-Busch of Germany. In
the late 2010s, Indian railways started upgrading the coaches of select trains
from LHB to new Tejas coaches with enhanced
features. As of March 2022, Indian Railways' had 84,863 passenger
coaches. Coaches are manufactured by five manufacturing units of the
Indian Railways and public sector companies BEML and
BHEL. The coaching stock have unique five or six digit identifiers. Till
2018, the first two digits indicating the year of manufacture and the last
three digits indicating the class. In 2018, the numbering system was
changed with the first two digits indicating the year of manufacture and the
last four digits indicating the sequence number.
2.2 Multiple units
In the 1960s, Electric multiple units (EMU) were
developed for short-haul and suburban rail transit. On regional
short-distance routes, Mainline
electrical multiple unit (MEMU) and Diesel electrical multiple unit
(DEMU) trains are run. These train sets run in formation of 6,
9, 12 or 15 coaches and a three-car set is typified by a motor coach and two
passenger coaches. These trainsets are self-propelled with capability for
faster acceleration or deceleration. In 2018, Indian Railways also rolled
out semi-high speed self-propelled train sets with modified coaches for
intercity trains.
Goods wagons
_Train.JPG)
Fig. 3 a. covered wagon b.
tanker
Indian Railways hauls variety of cargo to cater to
various requirements and have specialized rolling stock corresponding to the
cargo hauled. There are 243 types of rolling stock used
for cargo operations. These include covered wagons, boxcars, flat wagons, flatbeds, open wagons, hoppers, containers, automobile carriers, defense
vehicle carriers and tankers. The freight cars can often carry loads from 10
to 80 tons per car depending on the configuration. A new wagon numbering
system was adopted in Indian Railways in 2003. The requirement of wagons was
previously met by Bharat wagon and engineering with the
procurement and manufacturing now done by both in public and private sector. Apart
from standard passenger classes, the Indian Railways has other specialized
coach types used for dedicated functions. These include accident relief
medical vans, brake vans, generator cars, inspection
carriages, military cars, pantry car and
parcel vans. These may be dedicated self-propelled units or attached to
train-sets.
2.3 Manufacturing
Indian Railways operates various
manufacturing units. Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW), commissioned in 1950,
was the first locomotive manufacturing unit in India. The first rail
coache manufacturing unit, the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) was established at
Madras in 1956. Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW),
commissioned in 1961, is the second locomotive manufacturing unit operated by
Indian Railways. BHEL, Patiala Locomotive Works, Diesel Locomotive Factory, Marhowrah and Electric Locomotive Factory,
Madhepura also manufacture locomotives in India. Railway
coaches are also manufactured at coach factories at Karputhala, Raebareli, Sonipat and Latur. Indian
Railways also operates two rail wheel manufacturing
factories at Bangalore and Chhpra.
- Network
3.1 Tracks
As of March 2023, Indian railway network spanned
104,647 km (65,025 mi) of running track length and 68,426 km
(42,518 mi) of route length. Track sections are rated for speeds
ranging from 80 to 200 km/h (50 to 124 mph), though the maximum speed
attained by passenger trains is 160 km/h (99 mph). Spanning
65,093 km (40,447 mi) 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge is
the most used gauge with 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge
metre gauge and 762 mm (2 ft 6 in) narrowguage
and 610 mm (2 ft) narrower
gauge tracks limited to certain routes. The broad-gauge network
is equipped with long-welded, high-tensile 52kg/60kg 90
UTS rails with pre-stressed concrete (PSC) sleepers
and elastic fastenings. As of 31 March 2019, IR
network spans 1, 23,542 km (76,765 mi) of track length, while the
route length is 67,415 km (41,890 mi). Track sections are rated
for speeds ranging from 80 to 200 km/h (50 to 124 mph), though the
maximum speed attained by passenger trains is 180 km/h (110 mph)
during trial runs. Almost all the broad-gauge network is equipped with long-welded, high-tensile strength 52kg/60kg 90 UTS rails and pre-stressed concrete (PSC) sleepers with
elastic fastenings. 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge is
the predominant gauge used by IR and spans 62,891 km
(39,079 mi) of route (93.29% of total route network), as of
31 March 2019. It is the broadest gauge in use across the world
for regular passenger movement. Broad gauge generated 100% of the freight
output (net tonne-kilometres) and more than 99% of the passenger output
(passenger kilometers) in the fiscal year 2018–19.
The 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) meter gauge tracks
and 762 mm (2 ft 6 in)
and 610 mm (2 ft) narrow gauge tracks
are present on fewer routes. All these routes, except the heritage routes, are
being converted to broad gauge. The meter gauge tracks were 2,839 kilometers
(1,764 mi) (4.21% of total route network) and narrow gauges tracks were
1,685 km (1,047 mi) (2.50% of total route network) as of
31 March 2019.
3.2 Electrification
The first electric train ran in Bombay
in 1925 on DC traction. In 1928, DC traction was
introduced on the suburban of Bombay by the Bombay, Baroda and Central India
Railway between Colaba and Borivali and
between Madras beach and Tambaram by the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway in
1931. In 1957, Indian Railways decided to adopt 25 kV AC as its
standard. The first 25 kV AC EMUs operated in Calcutta in 1962 and Madras
in 1968. In 2017, Indian Railways announced a plan to electrify the country's
entire broad gauge rail network by 2023. Post electrification,
30 billion units of electricity will be required on an annual basis for
Indian Railways. As of October 2023, IR has electrified 60,453 km
(37,564 mi) of the total broad-gauge route length. Indian Railway
uses 25 kV AC traction on all its electrified tracks.
As of 1 April 2020, IR has electrified 58.49% or
39,866 km (24,772 mi) of the total route kilometers. Indian Railway
uses 25 kV 50 Hz AC traction on all its
electrified tracks. Railway electrification in India began with the first
electric train, between Chhatrapati Shivaji and Kurla on the Harbor
Line, on 3 February 1925 on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR)
at 1500 V DC. Heavy gradients in the Western Ghats necessitated
the introduction of electric traction on the GIPR to Igatpuri on
the North East line and Pune on
the South East line. On 5 January 1928 1500 V DC traction was introduced on the
suburban section of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India
Railway between Colaba and Borivili,
and between Madras Beach
and Tambaram of
the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway on
11 May 1931, to meet growing traffic needs. The 3000 V DC electrification
of the Howrah-Burdwan section
of the Eastern Railway was completed in
1958. The first 3000 V DC EMU service began on the Howrah-Sheoraphuli section
on 14 December 1957.
Research and trials in Europe,
particularly on French Railways (SNCF),
indicated that 25 kV AC was an economical electrification system. Indian
Railways decided in 1957 to adopt 25 kV AC as its standard, with SNCF their
consultant in the early stages. The first 25 kV AC section was Raj
Kharswan–Dongoaposi on the South Eastern Railway in 1960. The
first 25 kV AC EMUs, for Kolkata suburban
service, began service in September 1962. For continuity, the Howrah–Burdwan section
of the Eastern Railway and the Madras Beach–Tambaram section of the Southern Railway
were converted to 25 kV AC by 1968. Because of limitations in the DC traction
system, a decision was made to convert the electric traction system of the
Mumbai suburban rail network of WR and CR from 1.5kV DC to 25 kV AC in 1996–97.
The conversion from DC to AC traction was completed in 2012 by Western Railway,
and in 2016 by Central Railway. Since then, the entire electrified mainline
rail network in India uses 25 kV AC, and DC traction is used only for metros
and trams.
Indian Railways announced on 31 March 2017 that the country's
entire rail network would be electrified by 2022. Though not a nascent
concept, the electrification in India now has been committed with a fresh
investment of 35,000 crore (US$4.9 billion) to electrify the
entire network and eliminate the cost of fuel under transportation which will
amount to a massive savings of 10,500 crore (US$1.5 billion)
overall. This will be a boon for savings for the Government to channelize the
investments in modernization of the railway infrastructure. Close to
30 billion units of electricity will be required for railway electrification
on an annual basis by 2022, leading to excellent opportunities for IPPs of
conventional power.
3.3 Stations
As of March 2022, Indian Railways manages and operates 7,308
stations. Prior to 2017, the stations were classified based on of its
earnings into seven categories. Since 2017, Indian Railways categorizes
the stations by commercial importance into three different categories namely
Non Suburban Group (NSG), Suburban Group (SG) and Halt Group (HG). These are
further subdivided into subcategories based on their commercial importance (NSG
1–6, SG 1-3 and from HG 1–3). The commercial importance of a station is
determined by taking into account its passenger footfall, earnings and
strategic importance and these categories are used to determine the minimum
essential amenities required by each station.
- Passenger trains
4. 1 Express trains of India
Fig. 4 a Rajdhani Express b. Shatabdi Express
Indian Railways operates various
classes of passenger and express trains. The trains are classified as a basis
average speed and facilities with express trains having fewer halts, priority
on rail network and faster average speed. The trains are identified by five digit numbers with train-pairs
traveling in opposite directions usually labelled with consecutive
numbers. Express trains often have specific unique names for easy
identification. In 2018–19, Indian Railways operated 13,523 passenger
trains on average daily and carried 8.44 billion passengers. India
Railways operates various categories of express trains including Rajdhani Express, Shatabdi Express, Garib Rath Express, Double Decker Express, Tejas Express, Gatimaan Express, Humsafar Express, Duronto Express, Yuva Express, Uday Express, Jan Shatabdi Express, Sampark Kranti Express, Vivek Express, Rajya Rani Express, Mahamana Express, Antyodaya Express, Jan Sadharan Express, Suvidha Express and Intercity Express.
4.2 High-speed rail
Rajdhani express introduced
in 1969 were the first trains to reach speeds of up to 120 km/h
(75 mph). Shatabdi Express introduced in 1988, are
capable of running at a maximum speed of 150 km/h (93 mph). In
2019, Vande Bharat
Express was launched with self-propelled EMU train-sets capable
of reaching maximum speed of 180 km/h (110 mph) with operational
speeds restricted to 130–160 km/h (81–99 mph). A
non-airconditioned semi-high speed train-set hauled by two modified WAP-5 locomotives was launched
as Amrit Bharat Express. A high-speed rail line
is under-construction between Mumbai and Ahmedabad which
will become the first true high-speed rail line when completed in
2026.
4.3 Freight service
The first rail operational in Madras in
1837 was used for ferrying granite. The first dedicated commercial freight
rail was operated between Bombay and Ahmedabad in 1966. Indian Railways
ferries various commodities and cargo to cater to
various industrial, consumer, and agricultural segments. Apart from dedicated
freight trains, parcels, mail and small cargo
are carried on specialized carriages attached to passenger trains. In
2022–23, Indian Railways operated 8,479 trains on average daily and transported
1418.1 million tons of freight. To counter this, Indian Railways established
the Dedicated Freight Corridor
Corporation of India in 2006 to construct dedicated freight
corridors to reduce congestion, increase speed and reliability and proposed
upgradation of existing goods sheds, attracting private capital to build
multi-commodity multi-modal logistics terminals, changing container sizes, operating
time-tabled freight trains and tweaking with the freight pricing/product
mix. End-to-end integrated transport solutions such as roll-on, roll-off (RORO) service,
a road-rail system pioneered by Konkan Railway in 1999 to carry
trucks on flatbed trailers is extended to other routes.
In the freight segment, IR ferries various commodities and fuels
in industrial, consumer, and agricultural segments across the length and
breadth of India. IR has historically subsidized the passenger segment with
income from the freight business. As a result, freight services are unable to
compete with other modes of transport in terms of both cost and speed of
delivery, leading to continuous erosion of market share. To counter this
downward trend, IR has started new initiatives in freight segments including
upgrading of existing goods sheds, attracting private capital to build
multi-commodity multi-modal logistics terminals, changing container sizes,
operating time-tabled freight trains, and tweaking with the freight
pricing/product mix. Also, end-to-end integrated transport solutions such
as roll-on, roll-off (RORO) service,
a road-rail system pioneered by Konkan Railway Corporation in 1999 to
carry trucks on flatbed trailers, is now being extended to other
routes across India. Perhaps the game changer for IR in the freight segment are
the new dedicated freight corridors that
are expected to be completed by 2020. When fully implemented, the new
corridors, spanning around 3300 km, could support hauling of trains up to
1.5 km in length with 32.5-ton axle-load at speeds of 100 kilometers per
hour (62 mph). Also, they will free-up capacity on dense passenger routes
and will allow IR to run more trains at higher speeds. Additional corridors are
being planned to augment the freight infrastructure in the country.
5. Hub & Spoke Model
In the domestic arena as well, hub and
spoke movements allow for a better utilization of transport potential and allow
for long lead services to be generated based on short lead traffic collections
using road and rail shuttle services. This service can be especially useful for
big corporates for whom production centers are concentrated in a single
location, but distribution needs are national in scale. Indian Railways has already
successfully moved white cement as a commodity using this experiment, whereby
the product has been distributed over various locations after being picked up
from a single production center. The hub-and-spoke system is the best-known network system. The
spokes in the network are liner services between regional terminals and the
hubs. Hubs are terminals or, in railway systems, they may be marshalling yards.
At the hub the transport units are transferred from one liner service to
another connecting the hub with the destination terminal. Ideally, hubs are
located near to the center of gravity of transport demand. In this way detour
distances and trip times between origin and destination terminals can be
minimized. The dotted arrow in the picture indicates that two services (spokes)
are needed to connect different regions. The total terminal-to-terminal trip
time is increased because of the extra distance for the call at the hub and the
time spent in the hub itself. A hub-and-spoke system is designed to combine
small flows arriving and departing in different directions. In the case of
railways, the spokes can be of any type of liner service with any frequency.
The hub-and-spoke model allows railroad
end points to release trains to the hub terminal with full railcars of mixed
destination using any size railcar available. The hub combines small volumes
for less populous destinations from the entire network, and builds large, full,
pure railcars for delivery. This allows rail networks to pursue low-volume
cargo because it is no longer necessarily high in cost. With every rise in the
price of gasoline, a new market share is available to rail from trucking lines.
The networks that can better reduce the costs of servicing smaller-volume
customers stand to reap greater gains in market share. The opportunity exists
for the rail network that can seize it.
Fig. 5 Hub & Spoke model
- Maximize Freight
Efficiencies
As part of the hub-and-spoke model,
hubs are positioned no more than 300 miles apart from one another. Here’s how
it works:
Driver A leaves from his original hub
and meets Driver B at a switching point. They then exchange trailers. And while
Driver B continues to the next switching point, Driver A heads back to his
originating hub. This sequence of events keeps products in continuous motion
and allows drivers to return home each night.
The hub-and-spoke model creates
numerous benefits, including:
- Continuous movement
for loads thanks to centralized handoffs.
- Reduced
lengths-of-haul, which improve scheduling,
reduce transit time and help drivers comply with hours-of-service
regulations.
- Consistent on-time
performance, which enhances service
levels and ensures products arrive in the right place at the right time.
- Improved driver
recruiting and retention. Drivers are
able to return home each night, thus experiencing an improved quality of
living. This produces additional benefits, including higher tenure, route
consistency, increased transit dependability and performance, and improved
safety.
- Reduced costs and
enhanced productivity thanks to
Penske’s economies of scale (larger loads reduce per-unit costs) and the
elimination of the need for team drivers.
- Lower carbon
footprint, because few empty miles driven reduces
wasted fuel and emissions.
- Consistent pricing mitigates the risk of third-party
carrier price fluctuations.
Just-in-time doesn’t have to mean high
costs. By partnering with Penske and leveraging our hub-and-spoke system, you
can strategically use your transportation resources and steer a course toward
efficiency.
- Opportunities
7.1 Growth potential
The hub-and-spoke system, developed after deregulation, has
allowed a rapid growth in size, competition strategy and traffic demand in the
transportation business. This had resulted in operational inefficiencies at
periods of slow economy. As a result of this, some transportation companies
restructure their business model to return to the point-to-point system and
move out of the constant need for a large hub and utilize hubs in a more
uniform matter in terms of arrivals and departures. This phenomenon is known as
the rolling hubs.
7.2 Optimization of
available resources
The system has a smaller number of routes connecting all spokes
enabling a more efficient use of scarce transportation resources. This,
however, had small stations and economies of smaller regions suffering as per
the reduced capacity. As a result, this encouraged railways to agree with
low-cost carriers to offer low transportation fees and commissions from local
businesses to bring in traffic and passenger flow. The passenger market favored
this type of airline business as lower fares were rolled out to the market from
these smaller hubs, which caused great competition to full-service carriers
that were operating with large amount of fees to use large hubs and can no
longer return to these small hub markets as it is not cost efficient and are
dominated by low cost carriers.
- Challenges
8.1 Congestion and
delay management
To limit waiting times and provide a large variety of possible
connections for passengers at the hub station, it is essential for the hub
station to schedule as many incoming and outgoing trains as possible during a
short time frame. This results in high traffic peaks during these times and
often causes delays due to scarce rail side facilities such as taxi- or
runways.
At the same time the hub-and-spokes-system however allows hub train to increase
their benefit exponentially by adjoining an additional destination to the
network compared to point-to-point-carriers. This implies for a hub train that
usually the tradeoff between the costs due to congestion and the benefit of
serving new markets is positive. Therefore, the train has an incentive for
adding more traffic despite a rising congestion level. The point-to-point
carriers at the railway station, which cannot capitalize on such an exponential
benefit, however, suffer from the increasing number of flights.
Another reason for congestion stems from the fact that many
stations do not limit the number of take-offs and landings. One possibility for
trains to prevent further congestion and coevally increase the passenger count
is the use of larger trains. However, doing so, new challenges occur if these
trains with more passengers are delayed. More travelers will miss their
connecting trains which would result in a poor utilization rate of the hub-hub
connection and reduces the profitability of a train.
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