No other pair of cities in MP has inter city traffic anywhere near the existing traffic between INDB-BPL. In present setup INDB-BPL acDD is a failure inspite of a good traffic between the two cities mainly due to more railway distance of about 225km (via Maksi-Dewas Chord), abt. 265km (via UJN) as compared to about road distance of abt. 180km, more time taken by the acDD express and more fare.
Even the HBJ/BPL-IND DD could be successful if following are done:
(1) Reduce the fare of the cc as the cost per seat...
more... of acDD coach is much lesser than the normal ac chaircar. If IRlys remains contended with just a a decent profit, and pass on the benefit to passengers by reducing the fare, then passengers shall prefer this train over pvt car, shared taxies and luxury buses. Laluji reduced Garib Raths fare of acIII berths by increasing the number of berths per coach marginally from 64 to 72. But Didi in-spite of being more people friendly, did not reduce the fare of acDDcc seat even after drastically increasing the number of seats per coach from about 78/80 to 120/128. Had IR passed on the additional cost benefit to passengers and lowered acDDcc fare, the acDD trains could have been a roaring success like GR.
(2) Routing it through shorter path 224 km and giving aggressive time slot, covering the distance in about 3 hrs to match/beat the fast buses and taxies. This could be possible now as congestion at INDB station has been eliminated with line doubling to Laxmibai nagar. After completion of the Dewas-INDB doubling and upgradation of Dewas Maksi line, such timing is easily possible. Separate train to UJN may be provided with same rake if traffic permits. No body like to travel BPL-IND via UJN due to more journey time & higher fare.
(3) Add LHB second class Chaircars (Single/Double decker) i.e. operate longer train so that more passengers can be served and more revenue can be generated.
(4) Do a survey of about 90km long straight line (short cut) which start at Dewas and join UJN-BPL line near/at Sehore. If distance (actual about 90km) on this new track is inflated by 50% and fares are charged for 135 km, still the total chargeable distance between INDB-BPL could still be a 215-220km only (very competitive). With this inflated distance, this newline project could be very profitable one. Much lesser journey time, saving in fuel consumption, more trips per rake and possibility of newer connectivies from BPL/IND to other cities through the new section etc are main benefits. DDexpress can cover BPL-IND (175km) in 2.5 hrs with brief stop at Dewas (may be at Sehore if traffic permit). This situation is a potent game changer for IRlys especially for attracting traffic in IND-BPL section.