Economic and Ecological Evaluation of the Roll on - Roll off railway service

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Abstract:-

The share of railways in total freight traffic has declined from 89% in 1950-51 to 30% in 2011-12. [1] Two key reasons behind this trend are- first is the cross subsidization model on which Indian railways (IR) operates and second it Railway cannot provide door to door services. Road based goods movement (trucks) can provide door to door services but its operating cost, diesel consumption and co2 emission are higher than railways. In Roll on - roll of (Ro-Ro) services, trucks are loaded to train on point A of Ro-Ro then transported on rail ways and on reaching point B of Ro-Ro, trucks resume their road journey and provide door services. Objective of this paper is to study the Economic and Ecological impact of the Ro-Ro service. Results of this study shows that the Ro-Ro service is win - win for all stakeholders. It earns profit for railways, reduces operating cost to truckers, and reduces diesel consumption and co2 emissions.




  Introduction:-
Credit- KRC on Twitter

In 1999, Konan Railway Corporation (KRC) came with the concept of Roll on Roll off (Ro-Ro) services. In this arrangement trucks are loaded to rail wagons which have been suitably modified for passage of trucks over them. The driver and cleaner of the truck travel along. On reaching the destination of Ro-Ro, trucks resumed their road Journey. This Year, Ro-Ro Services completed the 20 years of service. This Study paper aimed to gauge its economic and ecologic impact. The Outcome of the study may serve as reference to replicate the success of the Ro-Ro in other parts of the country.


 Methodology :- 

Railways operate over the cross subsidization model. Rail makes profit from freight business and utilizes that profit to subsidize the loss of the Passenger transport. In 2014-15, while Railways’ freight business made a profit of about Rs 44,500 crore, its passenger business incurred a net loss of about Rs 33,000 crore[2] From this, we can consider that tariff charged for the goods transport by railways includes the all expanses of the railways. Here I considered the tariff changed by the KRC as the cost incurred by the KRC transport the trucks. To find out the truck operating cost, I took reference of the truck operating cost on route Ahmedabad-Coimbatore by the TCI-IIM(C) study [3].

KRC provides services to trucks having payload of the 10tonne to 40 tonnes. For this study, I Have took the payload of the 15 tonne and empty truck of 7 tonnes as standard. [4] . All types of the cost collations in study is done after inflation adjustment of reference data and year wise data.

KRC provides Ro-Ro Services on the five different routes. I have calculated the truck operating cost and diesel consumption for various routes and compare that with the tariff and diesel consumption of the Ro-Ro by the KRC on the same route. The difference between the two is the impact of the Ro-Ro on economy and ecology.



Data Collection:-

Total number of trucks operated by Ro-Ro ( Year wise) :-
1999 - 522
2000- 7519
2001- 11519
2002- 9473
2003 - 14131
2004- 11135
2005- 17650
2006-18185
2007- 24208
2008- 29261
2009- 25038
2010- 35050
2011- 28241
2012- 35651
2013- 48555
(Source: Official data of the Indian Railways)

Toll tax for the Multi axel truck on the study routes:-
Route
Distance ( In Km)
Toll Tax (In Rs.)
Kolad to Suratkal
820
2346
Kola to Verna
442
0
Suratkal to Verna
330
1025
Suratal to Karmbeli
1042
2965
(Source: Toll Plazas on a Map | NHTIS - NH)


 Summary Statistics for the Ahmedabad-Coimbatore Route (Used as Reference in this study)

Parameter
Unit
Average
Distance
Km
1910
Journey Time
Hour
63.5
Mileage
Km/Liter
4.03
(Source: Study "Operational Efficiency of National Highways for Freight Transportation in India" by TCI- IIMC)


 Literature Review:-

Transport Corporation of India Ltd. & Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (2015) Prepared a Joint Study Report "Operational Efficiency of National Highways for Freight Transportation in India". In this report they assessed the impact of government investments in national highways on the operational efficiency of freight transportation by road in India.

K.S. Chandra in his paper "Green Ride - Ro-Ro Service on Indian" (2013) studied the energy saving by the Indian Railways freight transport and especially by the Ro-Ro services.

Prof. G. Raghuram  in his study paper "An Overview of the Trucking Sector in India: Significance and Structure" (2015) brings out the significance of road transport by examining the modal share and GDP share, and profiling the type of roads and vehicles. This Study points out that around 75% of the trucks on Indian roads are two-axle trucks with a capacity of nine tonnes. Two and three-axle rigid trucks constitute the bulk of trucks in India. The share of three-axle trucks and light commercial vehicles is on the rise.

Prachee Mishra in her study  "State of Railway finance" (2018) analysed the changes taking place in the share of the railways in freight transport in India, Operating ratio of the passenger and freight transport etc. This paper notes that The share of railways in total freight traffic has declined from 89% in 1950-51 to 30% in 2011-12.


 Routes of Study :-

1. Route 1 (R1) -  Kolad and Suratkal (820 km)
2. Route 2 (R2) - Kolad to Verna (442 Km)
3. Route 3 (R3) - Suratkal to Verna (330 Km )
4. Route 4 (R4) - Suratkal and Karmbeli (1042 Km)


(There is a fifth route - Ankola to Verna is in operation on Ro-Ro service. But it's Short route of 110 Km and lies on the longer route of the Surakhtal to Verna. Furthermore, Fix Tariff card of the route is not available so I do not do separate calculation of this route.)


 Assumption/References used and made in this study :-
  • Growth of the Ro-Ro service for the year 2003 to 2013 was 24% per annum. The same is taken in consideration to project the numbers of trucks operated by KRC for the years 2014 afterwards.
  • To calculate the truck operating cost of the study routes of this paper, the reference of the study of the TCI-IIMC for the Ahmedabad-Coimbatore is taken as reference.
  • Mileage of the truck carrying 15 tonne load taken as 4.15 km/Litter
  • Mileage of the rail locomotive taken as 2liter/1000GTKM [5]
  • Co2 Emission from the Burning of the 1 litter of Diesel = 2.5kg 
  • Time specific overhead like staff, insurance and interest subjected incurred in both - transport by trucks and Ro-Ro. So it has been not taken in consideration as this study aim to find to difference in cost of two modes of transportation.

Indirect cost which is not taken in consideration in this study :-
  • Road accident cost - In Year 2019, Railways Record Zero death in Accident while 1.5 Lakh citizens lost their lives in road accident. Trucks are reason for the 20% of the Total Road accident. [6]
  • Congestion cost - The National Highways carry about 40% of the total road traffic, though constituting only about 1.7% of the road network. [7]
  • Foreign reserve saving - According to PPAC, India spent USD 111.9 billion on oil imports in 2018-19, up from USD 87.8 billion in the previous fiscal year. The import bill was USD 64 billion in 2015-16.

Calculations :-

Fuel Consumption to transport the 15 tones of the goods on the various routes by Truck is calculated from the data of the length of the journey and mileage of the truck (4.15 km/litter). Fuel consumption in the Ro-Ro is calculated on the basis of the mileage of the Diesel locomotive of railways which is 2 liter/1000GTKM.

Route
Truck
( In Liter)
R0-Ro
( In Liter)
Difference
( In Liter)
R1
198
75
123
R2
107
40
66
R3
80
30
50
R4
251
95
156
( Diesel Consumption)

 There are two types of the cost incurred in the truck transportation other than the fuel cost. One is distance specific cost and second is time specific cost. Distance specific cost includes - Tyre, lubricants and spare cost. Time Specific cost includes - Depreciation, Insurance, and Interest and staff salary.

Following table shows the cost incurred in the truck operation (Excluding the fuel cost)to transport the 15 tonne goods on study routes.


Route
Distance Specific cost
 (In Rs.)
Time Specific cost
(In Rs.)
R1
3289
1852
R2
1773
1228
R3
1324
745
R4
4180
2152


Total cost incurred to transport the goods by truck is the sum of the cost - Fuel cost, Distance specific cost and Time specific cost. From this I have calculated the cost to transport 1 tonne good to 1 km distance on different routes.From Konkan Railway Corporation (KRC) tariff card of the various routes, I have calculated the cost to transport one tonne good to 1 km distance.

On the basis of these two costs, I figured out the difference of cost ( Or Saving in Ro-Ro) per tonne per km. Following is the calculation of one route.
Kolad and Suratkal
820 km
15 Tonne Truck Operation cost
Fuel cost
12843
Distance-specific overhead
3289
Depreciation
1892
Toll Tax
2346
Total Cost of Truck Journey
20370
Rs./tonne-km
1.66
Ro-Ro Tariff
Ro-Ro Tariff
9084
GST (5%)
9538
Rs./tonne-km
0.78
Difference in Truck an Ro-Ro
Difference ( In Rs)
10832
Difference (Rs./tonne-km )
0.88




Findings:-


1. By Using the Ro-Ro services of the Railways, truck operators saved  396.52 Crore in Last 18 years.

2. Ro-Ro Service contributed to save the 699.03 lakhs liter of the diesel in its 18 years of service.

3. In the last 18 years, Ro-Ro services contributed to reduce the emission of the 17.47 Lakh kg Co2. 



References:-
[1] [2]  Prachee Mishra . State of Railway finance ; 2018
[3] Transport Corporation of India Ltd. & Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. Operational Efficiency of National Highways for Freight Transportation in India; 2015
[4] G. Raghuram.  An Overview of the Trucking Sector in India: Significance and Structure;2015 
[5] K.S. Chandra. Green Ride - Ro-Ro Service on Indian; 2013
[6] PRS Legislative Research. Overview of Road Accidents in India; 2017
[7] G. Raghuram.  An Overview of the Trucking Sector in India: Significance and Structure;2015 



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