Day of the Duronto! The much awaited (not me) Chennai - Coimbatore Duronto Non-stop express is being introduced today. Not to sound sceptical, but I feel it will be a huge failure.
Remember years ago when the infamous Coimbatore - Chennai Shatabdi was introduced - and since converted to an ordinary Mail/Express Superfast over a period of time? The reason that is popularly quoted for its failure is that it was made to start from CBE in the morning instead of Chennai. I strongly feel that the prime reason for the train to face failure is the conservative mind-set of Kongu region. You cannot find a person who will spend money to get a thing that is less than its worth - just for the sake of doing it (eg. flying in an aeroplane, booking 1A in train, travelling in Shatabdi, going to a mall for shopping et al).
So, if there is an 'all-AC' non-stop train to CBE, it is bound to face failure, despite the fanfare accompanying the inauguration. Just as a comparison, 70% of Kovai's crowd gets down at Salem, Erode and Tiruppur. It runs almost empty on week-days, after TUP. Salem and Erode are cities, Tiruppur is another city and is the connection for Avinashi, north-west Erode district and the Udumalpet belt. Now, if we have a non-stop full AC train stopping only at CBE, what is the guarantee that it will run full?
The only solution is the Lalbagh formula. Like how the 24 Up trails Lalbagh from Bangalore with lots of stops, Duronto should be made to stop at SA, ED and TUP with Kovai trailing it with more stops like Katpadi, Jolarpet, Gudiyattam-Ambur-Vaniyambadi trio, Sankari and Morappur. This will be a sure hit as the city crowd will flock Duronto for comfort and speed while Kovai will have the crowd for intermediate towns.
Let me wait and see whether Didi's Duronto pulls crowd toward it.
-Ara.
7 comments:
Passengers Flow in Kovai and Intercity Express in the financial year 2009-2010
2675
MAS-CBE------165615(Avg 454/Day)
MAS-SA ------ 59003(Avg 162/Day)
MAS-ED ------ 37710(Avg 103/Day)
MAS-TUP ------ 27572(Avg 75/Day)
2679
MAS-CBE------157529(Avg 432/Day)
MAS-SA ------ 58532(Avg 160/Day)
MAS-ED ------ 53217(Avg 146/Day)
MAS-TUP ------ 35653(Avg 98/Day)
2676
CBE-MAS------161744(Avg 443/Day)
SA-MAS ------ 71258(Avg 195/Day)
ED-MAS ------ 43178(Avg 118/Day)
TUP-MAS ------ 28060(Avg 77/Day)
2680
CBE-MAS------152967(Avg 443/Day)
SA-MAS ------ 54715(Avg 150/Day)
ED-MAS ------ 47332(Avg 130/Day)
TUP-MAS ------ 33615(Avg 92/Day)
I got this info from RTI Act 2005.
Also see this:
I got the following information under RTI act 2005:
The daily average sale of Unreserved tickets from Chennai Central/Egmore to the following places during 2009-10
1. Katpadi-2280
2. Salem-1046
3. Erode-730
4. Tiruppur-502
5. Coimbatore-1237
6. Palgat-233
7. Calicut-118
8. Cannanore-48
9. Mangalore-69
10.Trichur-158
11.Ernakulam Jn-160
12.Eranakulam Town-19
13.Kottayam-72
14.Trivandram-99
15.Villupuram-308
16.Tiruchchirapalli-1137
17.Dindigul-349
18.Madurai-1051
19.Tirunelveli-591
20.Nagercoil-258
Please kindly change your post.
Arvind, I totally disagree with you. Going by the inputs received from a friend working with an airline company in Chennai, the inflow of industrialists travelling to Chennai from CBE/TUP to MAS has increased manifold during the last 2/3 years. Most of them travel to MAS by car and catch flights to onward foreign destinations. The flights out of CBE are very limited and people have to source other modes of transport to reach MAS. The existing trains are full to the brink always(You know about this very well). Given this non stop train to Chennai and also being Air conditioned, i feel this will be a definite hit. Your comparison with the earlier Shatabdi does not apply to the current days where we have seen people migrate from 2S/SL to 3A or 2A because of the higher spending habits. And CBE is more bigger town nowadays and I wish to tell you the fact that there are more Rich people in CBE/TUP than in Chennai.
As said by Chidambaram, pls change your post.
Regards,
N.C. Vimalakar
Agree the numbers are different - but with my experience, I still want to stick to my post. Let us also consider the fact that the average sales are subject to higher loads during weekends, annual leave and festivals.
It will not be long before SA, ED and TUP are introduced as stops for 2243 (add Arakkonam and Perambur also for 2244) followed by my prediction of a Duronto-turned-SFE in a year or two.
Great discussions-- Amazed at what data we can get for analysis.. Would the Railways not use the same data to decide on GO/NO for a new route/train ? Aravind-- Stick to your post -- No need to change one's view ...and that is what blogging is all about
Aravind - You can consider an year's Statistics for comparisions. By seeing a one day's scenario we cannot judge.
Simbu - my post was on week-days only. For a daily train to get popularity and revenue, just weekend/holiday rush is not enough. Look at the rush in Lalbagh, 23/24, Brindavan and 2007/08 Shatabdi during weekdays - certainly a long way to go for a non-stop train to CBE. Duronto will feed money to the system only if SA, ED and TUP are added as halts.
A wild dream - Ravi will kill me for sure! What if the Duronto gets extended to Ernakulam (**bypassing CBE**) with stops at PTJ, PGT and TCR, **purely on an experimental basis**?? similar to 2677 SBC Intercity?? Ha ha ha - then we can comfortably forget stops at SA and TUP!
@ Simbu - just noticed this, RTI data says 2675 crowd split is 55:45 between CBE:SA/ED/TUP (450:340). Removing the weekend and summer vacation bias out, weekdays will be 30:70 only as I have mentioned in my original post!
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