East Indian Railway: 1906 History of the EIR - Chapter XXVI

Note: This is a sub-section of the East Indian Railway

The History of the East Indian Railway by George Huddleston. Published 1906 by Tracker, Spins and Co

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CHAPTER XXVI. STATISTICS.

ACCURATE statistics of work done on Indian railways have, almost from the earliest days, been held to be one of the most important factors of economical management, as they afford an efficient means of ascertaining the work actually performed and the cost of performing it. The history of railway statistics in India is contained in a note published by General Sir Richard Strachey in 1901, here reproduced:—

"Note on the bearing of accurate statistics of working on the economical management of rail ways:—

"The Times of the 14th December, quoting from the Statist of the same date, which has a long article on the subject, announces, on the authority of the General Manager of the great railway system known as the North-Eastern Railway of England, as though it was something remarkable, that its managers have determined to adopt what the Statist calls the American system of ton and passenger mileage returns. It tells us also, on the same authority, what I think will startle some persons, that the average trainloads on the North-Eastern system during the year 1900 were, in round numbers, in passenger trains only 62.4 persons, in merchandise trains only 44 tons, in mineral trains only 92.5 tons, or in merchandise and minerals taken together 66.6 tons; and that the average rates charged were, for passengers .617d. per mile, for merchandise 1.64 per ton per mile, and for minerals ld. per ton per mile, or taking merchandise, live-stock and minerals together 1.24 per ton per mile; and there is no reason to suppose that the train loads and charges on other great English lines differ materially from those of the North-Eastern.

Managers of Indian railways will fully understand from these figures how it is that English Companies with their constant increases of capital expenditure, in working expenses and in the ratio of expenses to receipts, and in demands made on them for reduction of rates, are beginning to find themselves on the edge of a precipice, with the greater part at least of the dividends on their ordinary stock in jeopardy.

But they might also say that the discovery of the value of ton and passenger mileage returns comes more than a little late, and that to speak of it as an American practice implies a curious ignorance that the practice, was adopted more than 30 years ago, under the orders of the Government of India, by all Indian railways, and its results for at least 25 years have been widely disseminated in innumerable copies of reports, many of which must, at some time or other, have been in the hands of the bulk of the Managers and Directors of English railways, if only because many of them hold Indian railway stock.

The present seems therefore a suitable occasion for stating the reasons which led to the adoption of these returns in India, and the results which have followed their introduction. I shall confine myself on this subject to the East Indian Railway, which took and has kept the lead in the matter from the first.

In the year 1867, thirteen years after the opening of the line, the Board of the East Indian Railway found themselves in a very serious condition. Their capital expenditure had long passed all expectations, demands for fresh and heavy expenditure were reaching them almost by every mail, their working expenses were high and their traffic was disappointingly small It was felt that something must be done and it was finally determined to despatch the gentleman who was then, and still is, their Consulting Engineer, Mr. as he was then, now Sir Alexander Rendel, to India to consult with the Company's officers there generally on the subject.

I was then Secretary of the Public Works Department of India, and naturally I saw a great deal of Mr. Rendel. Of the result of his visit in respect to capital expenditure, I need say nothing here, except that it was highly successful. But by far the more important result, for, in fact, the usefulness of the line to India, as well as its financial success, has been determined by it, was that our many conversations on the subject led to this conclusion - that nothing of value could be effected on Indian lines, until their traffics were stated in ton and passenger mileage. My own recollections of the details of our discussions are, from lapse of time, getting hazy; but Sir Alexander Rendel tells me that he well remembers how, when he expressed a doubt whether the Companies could be induced to prepare the necessary statements, I declared that "it could be done and should be done" and somehow or other done it was at once. The decision was come to in the early part of 1868. Of course, it took some little time to set things in motion; but very early in the seventies, Sir Juland Danvers, then the Government Director of Indian Railway Companies published, in his Annual report to the Secretary of State, a note by Mr. Rendel on the subject; and in 1874 the East Indian Railway Board took the matter up by publishing in their report for the second half of 1873, the statement (the form of which will be seen on page 234) then and long afterwards known as Mr. Rendel's statement, for the second halves of 1871, 1872 and 1873. This continued to the time when the Government of India took over from Sir Juland Danvers the duty of preparing the annual report on Indian railways, and developed their statistics into the perhaps over-elaborate form in which they are now drawn up. The Board from that time attached to their half-yearly reports, and still do so, a copy of so much of the Government statistics as included the more simple statement of their earlier reports.

It has, moreover, become the established practice to place, week by week, before the official meetings, at which are present the Agent and Heads of Departments, as well as the Government Consulting Engineer and Examiner of Accounts, a statement containing the principal results of the working, so that the whole of the officers concerned in the management of the traffic are kept continually informed of the progress made, and immediate attention is directed to any falling off or improvement in the train and wagon loads, as well as to the increases and decreases of the traffic of all descriptions and the receipts from it.

The practical results of this system, the influence of which on the Administrative Staff extends also to the Board of Directors, to whom these weekly statements are regularly submitted, may be gathered from the annexed comparison of the traffic of the line for the first half of 1872, before the new statistics had produced much, though still some result, with that of the first period half of 1901 - when they had been acted on for more than thirty years. I take for the former period what was then known as the main line. I omit the Jubbulpore line, the accounts of which were at the time stated separately, because it was then but new, and its union with the main line would lead to unduly unfavourable conclusions. I convert also rupees from their standard value in 1872 of 1s. 10d. to their present price of 1s. 4d. and I take a passenger train mile in both cases as costing the same as a goods train mile, and compute the cost per train mile in the same way as in 1872.

We have then the following:—

PASSENGER TRAFFIC.

1st half year 1872 ... 1st half year 1901.

• Miles open - 1,281 ... 2,138
• 1. Average receipts from each passenger train per mile - 5s. 1.3d ... 4s. 8.8d.
• 2. Average sum received for carrying a passenger (taking all classes together) one mile - .27d. ... .223d.
• 3. Average number in any passenger train at any one time - 235 ... 257
• 4. Average cost of running a train one mile - 2s. 3.25d. ... 1s. 101d.
• 5. Average cost of carrying a passenger one mile - .112d. ... .088d.
• 6. Average profit on each passenger per mile - .158d. ... .135d.
• 7. Average number of passenger trains running over each mile of line each way per diem (supposing all trains to run over the whole line in operation) - 2.25 ... 3.91
• 8. Average number of passengers passing over each mile of line both ways per diem - 1,064 ... 2,010

GOODS TRAFFIC. (including minerals.)

1st half year 1872 ... 1st half year, 1901.

• Miles open - 1,281 ... 2.136
• 1. Average receipts from each goods train per mile - 7s. 6d. ... 6s 4d
• 2. Average sum received for carrying one ton of goods (taking all classes together) one mile - .789d. tons ... .377d
• 3. Average load in tons in any goods train at any one time - 113.75 ... 201.59
• 4. Average cost of running a train one mile - 2s. 3.25d. ... 1s 10.75d
• 5. Average cost of carrying a ton of goods one mile - .238d. ... .112d
• 6. Average profit on each ton per mile - .551d. ... .265d
• 7. Average number of goods trains running over each mile of line, each way per diem (supposing all trains to run over the whole line in operation) - 3.68 ... 7
• 8. Average number of tons passing over each mile of line both ways per diem - 833.5 ... 2,820

The main features of this comparison are:

1. The great increase of the average daily number of passengers and tons of goods passing over each line of railway, being for the former 100 per cent. and for the latter nearly 250 per cent., while the mileage worked has increased more than 50 per cent.

2. The increased train load of goods, which has been nearly doubled.

3. The reduced charge for goods, the average now being considerably less than one half that of 1872.

4. The reduction of the cost of running trains, amounting to about one-fourth.

Under the influence of steady attention to train load we first largely reduced the mileage cost of carrying a passenger or a ton of goods. Then, having reduced our expenses, we were enabled to reduce our rates; and then, by reducing our rates, we increased our traffic. We also saved in capital expenditure by reducing the quantity of rolling and locomotive stocks, and of station accommodation of all kinds, &c., &c., that was needed to meet the requirements of traffic.

The very different conditions of the two countries does not admit of any useful comparison of the money receipts and charges between the East Indian and North-Eastern Railways. As to train loads, however, it may be remarked that the passenger train loads, though four times those of the North-Eastern, are less than on several other Indian lines. The cause lies in our rates, which are still too high. In goods, although we have nearly doubled our train loads since 1872, the goods and mineral train loads should be greater than they are, and I have no doubt that a judicious reduction of rates would lead to an increase in quantities carried that would be profitable. There are, however, difficulties in the way of making provision for any considerable increase to traffic, whether in passengers or goods, any immediate action in this direction impracticable.

If it be asked what have ton and passenger mileage returns to do with all this, the reply is, that with ton and passenger mile returns, as well as passenger and goods train miles, you arrive at once at the average passenger and goods train loads, and these are a test of the healthy management of a line, such as a healthy pulse is to the human being. Making, of course, due allowances for variation of circumstances they are infallible. Low train loads, except under known or easily ascertainable circumstances point, without doubt, to faulty management. If uncorrected, they will lead a line to destruction, for low train loads mean high train mileage. The working expenses of a railway are not necessarily proportionate to the traffic carried, but to the effort made to carry the traffic—that is mainly to the train mileage run; and a needlessly high train mileage means capital and revenue wasted in every possible form, and, worse than this, it means rates and fares beyond the necessities of the case and consequent needless burdens on commerce. The public always pays ultimately for the blunders of railway management.

We who are connected with India are free, at any rate to a great extent, from this reproach, but this is due, in a degree which possibly will never be full), admitted, to our ton and passenger mileage returns and the way they have been forced by the administrations on the attention of the Executives of Indian railways."

It will be noted that it took nearly thirty years to increase the loads of goods trains from 113.75 tons to 201.59 tons and that General Sir Richard Strachey was not altogether satisfied with the results. By 1902 the figure had gone up to 202.75 tons, but early in 1903 Sir Alexander Rendel once more visited India and attended one of the weekly official meetings at which the statistics are examined; he drew special attention to the subject of train loads and said that in his opinion the average weight in a train should be increased to 250 tons. Efforts were made to bring about the desired result, and what followed is within the knowledge of all interested in the subject; by the close of 1904, the average weight had not only been increased to the figure mentioned by Sir Alexander Rendel, but had gone beyond it, and has since risen to over 275 tons.

Statistics not only form the true basis for economies in working, but have enabled the East Indian Railway Company to initiate with confidence a liberal policy in regard to rates, and to introduce concessions which, in their absence, would be thought dangerously near the line 'where profit ends and loss begins. In the case of the East Indian Railway statistics have proved, not an end but a means to an end, and for their introduction and application to railway working in India, if not throughout the world, we have to thank General Sir Richard Strachey and Sir Alexander Rendel.

As General Sir Richard Strachey said to the shareholders in 1898, statistics bring it within our reach to determine "how far the means employed are actually utilised, and in what direction waste occurs and where economy is to be sought for. I have no hesitation in saying that the unquestionably economical working of Indian railways generally, is in no small degree due to the system of check thus provided." To further assist in raising the standard of work done, weekly statistics are now published shewing, for several sections of the line, the average load per wagon loaded on the district, the vehicle mileage, the up and down engine mileage, the engine hours, wagon miles per hour, train miles per hour and other details. This information is in the hands of the staff very shortly after the period to which it pertains, and is not only found a most useful record of work done in each district, but is a basis for discussion at the meetings of Traffic officers which are held every few months.

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