During India’s holiday season, millions of people travel, placing strain on the country’s rail system.
However, given that China has a far larger number of lunar vacation visitors than India, how has it handled this? This is the larger tale of the Indian train restroom overcrowding.
India is a diverse country, and so are the images it conjures up. In addition to the pleasant and gleaming Vande Bharats, there are the crammed express and mail trains. Every Christmas season, when tens of thousands of passengers are added to the number of normal travelers, videos and pictures of people crammed into coaches like sardines surface. These pictures convey a greater narrative that extends beyond the trains, and it is not that India hasn’t increased its rail capacity.
Images from China during their yearly Lunar New Year holiday in February stand in stark contrast to those of India’s seasonal rush, especially during October and November.
China’s Spring Festival attracts so many tourists that it is referred to as the largest yearly migration in the world.
According to a Xinhua article, domestic travel volume on Lunar New Year eve in February 2024 increased by 27% over 2023. 195 million trips were made throughout the Chinese transportation system, according to the Chinese news agency.
According to Xinhua, rail traffic nearly doubled to 8.2 million trips. After a comparison with the Indian railway system, we shall return to the second half of the story.
As is customary in India, images of crammed trains began to surface near Diwali, when people are returning to their hometowns. People continue to hurry through Chhath and back to the cities where they work. Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh, which get the majority of migrant laborers and joyfully celebrate these festivities, account for the majority of the crowded trains.
The Rabi season, when thousands of migrant workers swarm to the vast farmlands of Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh, also begins during the festive season.
Ten individuals were hurt in a stampede that occurred at Bandra Terminus in October as a group of passengers gathered to board an unreserved train.
“This stain on Indian Railways, which appears at the same time each year, cannot be removed by a thousand Vande Bharats. “The poor man has no dignity in this fairyland,” comedian and columnist Kamlesh Singh wrote on X on October 28. “The minister and the babus know it, but they do nothing.”
Singh, also known as “Tau,” posted on AajTak Radio’s Teen Taal podcast. The post included a video of passengers in the congested restroom of a train headed for Bihar. People reacted angrily to the post once it went viral, pointing out the challenges faced by India.
Vande Bharats are not being contested. More trains like Vande Bharat are needed by Indians, but the nation must also improve how millions of people travel, whether on regular trains during the holidays or on suburban trains. Comparing it to China, which completely redesigned its train system in under ten years, is pointless.
“Please look at how China handles the festival rush if you’re pointing out the huge volume and capacity limitations. Almost 200 million individuals travel home and return. It used to be as disorganized as it is now. However, they corrected it after deciding that enough was enough,” Singh said.
According to data from the Railway Ministry, around 65 lakh people were transported by Indian railways on 4,521 special trains between October 1 and November 3.
The primary carrier of long-distance migration is the Indian Railways.
During this holiday season, the railroads added 175 special trains per day, which have completed 7,724 journeys.
All of the trains depart from places such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Bhopal for Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Even though the state of Bihar has had several Union rail ministers, all of them have added trains as part of their populist agendas. Track saturation limits the number of trains that can be introduced.
extra special unreserved trains, such as Jan Sewa, Antodyay, and Jansadharan, as well as expresses with extra general carriages, are required to handle the festive traffic. However, special trains are mistreated and given a lower priority when they are added to already full railway schedules, which causes major delays. The issue of overcrowding is ongoing rather than seasonal. Due to a shortage of trains, passengers in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have been encroaching on reserved seats for decades. In some areas of Bihar, people are still seen riding on the roofs of buses.
While highways in India are being widened to increase capacity, railroad tracks have not been extended past double lines, particularly in Bihar and the majority of Uttar Pradesh, two of the country’s three most populated states.
For instance, there are severe jams at Kanpur Central, Prayagraj Junction, and Pandit Deen Dayal Junction on the heavily traveled Delhi-Howrah line, which is still a double line and travels through Uttar Pradesh and Bihar (via Gaya and Patna). Nonetheless, it is a positive step that the Railways are constructing two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) to relieve the strain on these tracks and preserve them primarily for passenger trains.
Not very long ago, possibly up until the 1980s, China was well-known for its February celebrations and crowding. But over the past 20 years, it has managed to work. According to a 2017 Xinhua report, it created the largest high-speed rail network in the world in under ten years, “halving travel time for otherwise gruesome cross-country trips.” Since its introduction in 2003, China has built a network of high-speed rail that spans more than 46,000 kilometers.
The other half of the story is about to begin.
According to Xinhua, the majority of traffic was on the roadways, despite the fact that train travelers in China nearly doubled. On the eve of the Lunar New Year in 2024, more than 184 million car trips were taken.
Despite the rapid expansion of India’s highways, it is not economically viable for migrant workers to drive home. This is where comparing the two nations’ per capita GDP, which indicates their relative financial strength, is important.
In comparison to India, China has a greater per capita automobile ownership rate. China became as the world’s largest market for new automobiles in 2009. India has about 57 motor vehicles per thousand people, compared to 231 in China.
However, compared to India over the festival season, the road network makes it easier for people to travel independently during the Lunar New Year break. Additionally, this removes reliance on China’s aviation and railway networks.
China’s yearly per capita GDP of $25,015 is almost 2.5 times greater than India’s ($10,123). Therefore, even at the price of the migrant’s comfort and dignity, a ticket for Rs 250 for a 999-kilometer trip from Delhi to Patna is an easy choice. On a packed train headed toward Bihar, a video of passengers cleverly attaching ropes to create a hammock-like seat between two cabins went viral on social media.
In comparison to India, China has a greater per capita automobile ownership rate. China became as the world’s largest market for new automobiles in 2009. India has about 57 motor vehicles per thousand people, compared to 231 in China.
But during the Lunar New Year break, more self-driven travel is made possible by the road network than in India during the festive season. This also takes the dependency off the railway and aviation network in China.
It also makes little sense for the migrants to go by air during the holiday season, when ticket costs are exceptionally high.
During China’s Lunar New Year holiday in 2024, 1.8 million people traveled by plane, a 138% increase, according to Xinhua. This only applies to domestic flights; during the Spring Festival, foreign air traffic in China also soars.
The scarcity of airplanes causes air ticket prices to soar in India, where dynamic ticket pricing has brought train fares close to airfare.
“I go to Bihar every year for Chhath, but the excitement of the journey is diminished by the escalating cost of flying to Darbhanga. Monalisa, who landed at the Darbhanga Airport in North Bihar for Chhath, told news agency IANS, “The cost often exceeds Rs 1 lakh for a family, making us reconsider whether visiting home is worth it when international trips to the US or Europe cost about the same.”
Under the Udaan arrangement, which restricts the number of airlines that can operate at a specific airport, the Darbhanga airport has emerged. Airlines have abused the system, despite the price cap.
As it expands its air and road networks, India must increase its train capacity. Even though more people are traveling by air and by road, railways still need to expand.
India’s economy is expanding and benefiting from a demographic dividend. Because of the vast population, the nation’s domestic consumption keeps the engine running. These are the same individuals who require attention. Even if China and India have different circumstances and capacities, willpower and dedication can make a difference. Additionally, train restrooms can be utilized for their intended purpose.
