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Rail Passengers Summary
Indian rail sector was born in 1853 when the first train journeyed from Mumbai to Thane, covering a stretch of 34 km
Today Indian Railways is the third largest network in the world under a single management with over 64,000 km route length. It transports over 25 million passengers and over 3 million tons of freight traffic everyday
In the backdrop of an unprecedented economic crisis unleashed by the Covid pandemic, the year 2020-21 had been an extremely challenging one for the Indian economy, and this was most prominent in case of passenger traffic of Railways
The number of Rail passengers originating plummeted from 8,086 million in 2019-20 to just 1,250 million during 2020-21 and only partially recovered in 2021-22 to 3,519 million
During 2023-24, the passengers originating were placed at 6,905 million. The average lead was 154.2 km, and the passenger-km were 6905 million*154.2 km/1000 = 1064.7 BPKM (billion passenger-km)
Table below captures trend in number of Rail passengers originating since 1950-51
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| Year | Passengers Originating million | Passenger kms BPKM | Average Lead km | Rate per passenger km Paise | Passenger Earnings Rs Crore |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | 6905.0 | 1064.7 | 154.2 | 66.4 | 70693.3 |
| 2022-23 | 6396.0 | 958.9 | 149.9 | 66.1 | 63416.9 |
| 2021-22 | 3519.0 | 590.2 | 167.7 | 66.4 | 39214.4 |
| 2020-21 | 1250.0 | 231.1 | 184.9 | 66.0 | 15248.0 |
| 2019-20 | 8086.0 | 1051.0 | 129.9 | 48.2 | 50669.0 |
| 2018-19 | 8439.0 | 1157.0 | 137.1 | 44.1 | 51067.0 |
| 2017-18 | 8286.0 | 1178.0 | 142.1 | 41.3 | 48643.0 |
| 2016-17 | 8116.0 | 1150.0 | 141.7 | 40.3 | 46280.0 |
| 2015-16 | 8107.0 | 1143.0 | 141.0 | 38.7 | 44283.0 |
| 2014-15 | 8224.0 | 1147.0 | 139.5 | 36.8 | 42190.0 |
| 2013-14 | 8397.0 | 1140.0 | 135.8 | 32.0 | 36532.0 |
| 2012-13 | 8421.0 | 1098.0 | 130.4 | 28.5 | 31323.0 |
| 2011-12 | 8224.0 | 1047.0 | 127.2 | 27.0 | 28246.0 |
| 2010-11 | 7651.0 | 979.0 | 127.9 | 26.3 | 25706.0 |
| 2009-10 | 7246.0 | 903.0 | 124.7 | 25.9 | 23414.0 |
| 2008 -09 | 6920.0 | 838.0 | 121.1 | 26.1 | 21866.0 |
| 2007 -08 | 6524.0 | 770.0 | 118.0 | 25.7 | 19783.0 |
| 2006 -07 | 6219.0 | 695.0 | 111.7 | 24.7 | 17176.0 |
| 2005 -06 | 5725.0 | 616.0 | 107.5 | 24.5 | 15081.0 |
| 2004 -05 | 5378.0 | 576.0 | 107.0 | 24.4 | 14073.0 |
| 2003-04 | 5112.0 | 541.0 | 105.9 | 24.5 | 13260.0 |
| 2002-03 | 4971.0 | 515.0 | 103.6 | 24.4 | 12541.0 |
| 2001-02 | 5093.0 | 491.0 | 96.4 | 22.7 | 11162.0 |
| 2000-01 | 4833.0 | 457.0 | 94.6 | 22.9 | 10483.0 |
| 1990-91 | 3858.0 | 296.0 | 76.6 | 10.6 | 3145.0 |
| 1980-81 | 3613.0 | 209.0 | 57.7 | 4.0 | 828.0 |
| 1970-71 | 2431.0 | 118.0 | 48.6 | 2.5 | 296.0 |
| 1960-61 | 1594.0 | 78.0 | 48.7 | 1.7 | 132.0 |
| 1950-51 | 1284.0 | 67.0 | 51.8 | 1.5 | 98.0 |
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If we scroll down the above Table, passengers originating in 1950-51 were 1284 million, and average lead was 51.8 km, giving BPKM of 67. Thus between 1950-51 and 2023-24, passengers originating have grown 5.38 times, while average lead has grown 2.97 times, hence BPKM have grown ~15.9 times, due to the combined effect
During this time frame, rate in terms of paise per passenger per km has grown from Paise 1.5 to Paise 66.4. As a result, passenger revenue increased from Rs. 98 crore in 1950-51 to Rs. 70693.3 cr during 2023-24