Station halt requests by VIPs cost Railways ₹27.84 lakh a year

All undertakings asked to curtail ‘avoidable expenditure’ by 20%

A series of awareness directions have been issued to impress upon the staff about the need to cut expenditure wherever possible in view of COVID-induced losses.

A two-minute halt at a particular station usually requested by public representatives to railway authorities costs quite a sum — ₹7,628, which includes ₹1,763 for additional fuel cost, ₹4,401 for locomotive maintenance, ₹1,464 for earning capacity lost for a diesel locomotive. For an electric locomotive, it is slightly cheaper, working to around ₹5,451.

In case the railway authorities are able to successfully convince the demanding public representatives to withdraw the ‘uneconomical’ stoppage, it will save about ₹27.84 lakh per annum if the train is hauled by the diesel locomotive and about ₹18.25 lakh a year if the train is hauled by the electric locomotive, according to the expenditure worked out by the traffic costing cell of the South Central Railway (SCR).

A series of awareness directions have been issued to the departments of operations and commercial concerned in recent times in order to impress upon the staff about the need to cut expenditure wherever possible in view of the prevailing financial condition of the railways where the passenger earnings has nosedived in the past one and half years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Urging the personnel to see that the rolling stocks should keep moving and not kept in detention at the station yards, goodsheds, sick lines and terminals, it was pointed out that detention of the diesel loco would cost ₹12,154 for one hour, ₹16,158 for an electric one, idling of an AC coach ₹2,784, sleeper coach ₹1,868, general coach ₹1,832, covered wagon ₹1,044, open wagon ₹1,223 and flat wagon ₹1,203.

The instructions were in line with the Central government’s official order to all the undertakings to curtail the ‘avoidable expenditure’ to the tune of 20% when compared to the expenditure in 2019-20. The expenditure being incurred to combat COVID-19 has been excluded from the scope of this order, senior officials informed, pleading anonymity.

Items slated for cost cutting are overtime allowance, domestic/foreign travel, cash rewards, office expenses, publications, advertising, minor works, etc.