Explained in 9 charts: How India got thousands of railway passengers to fly
A mix of clever railway ticket pricing and fortunate global conditions pushed thousands of Indians to start flying There are a few things about the Indian Railways ’ performance and the boom in India’s aviation sector under the Narendra Modi government that catch the eye. For one, in an unprecedented development, the number of rail passengers travelling in 2nd AC compartments in 2016-17 saw a steep decline from a year earlier. Secondly, fewer people have been using the Indian Railways services than during the last few years of the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Thirdly, the exponential growth seen in the number of India’s air travellers lately has as much to do with the pricing of railway tickets as with rising incomes and falling jet fuel prices leading to air tickets being more affordably priced. And, finally, if India’s per capita income continues to increase at the pace it has over the past decade, and airlines cont...