LINE HAUL COST – LHC

LINE HAUL COST – LHC

Ø  Meaning:  Activity of actual haulage of the Wagon or consignment from the ORIGINATING to DESTINATION station.

Ø  Means expenses incurred in the haulage/transport between the First and Last Marshalling Yard in movement of Wagons/consignments.

Ø  LHC includes   -  A) Traction/Fuel cost  B) Other transportation cost (staff etc) & C) Track & Signaling cost

Ø  LHC excludes – A) Marshalling  B) Transshipment & C) Repacking

Ø  The importance of LHC is, it is one of the components for arriving total cost of transportation of passengers and freight.  Thus LHC plays a major role in revising the fares of Indian Railways.

Ø  It is calculated for every 1000 GTKM  (Gross Tonne Kilo Meter)

Ø  It is calculated separate for Traction & Diesel. Also calculate separate for Coaching and Goods.

Ø  LHC of various Zonal Railways shows no uniformity.  The huge variation may be on account of various reasons such as pricing of fuel/ traction, HRA of staff etc. 2012-13 year data of LHC of Zonal Railways is as follows.

2012-13 year data per 1000 GTKMs
Zonal Railway	LHC-Diesel	Remarks
Eastern Railway	Rs.444.41	Highest
East Central Railway	Rs.226.03	Lowest
Indian Railways as a whole	Rs.314.40	Average

2012-13 year data per 1000 GTKMs
Zonal Railway	LHC-Electrical	Remarks
East Central Railway	Rs. 425.17	Highest
North Central Railway	Rs. 109.28	Lowest
Indian Railways as a whole	Rs.167.05	Average

Ø  Such wide variations among Zonal Railways in respect of LHC should be investigated and the suitable corrective measures should be taken.

Ø  Costing analysis should be done duly comparing the LHC of various Railways to pinpoint the wastage/obsolete expenses.

Ø  In terms of Line Haul Cost (Summary of End Results 2015-’16), electric traction is cheaper by about 47% for freight traffic & 50% cheaper for coaching traffic, as compared to diesel traction. This is evident from table given below:-

LHC (In Rs.) per 1000 GTKMs (2014-15 year)
Freight		Coaching
Diesel	Electrical	Diesel	Electrical
265.09	139.65	373.51	186.08

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