MUMBAI (Commodity Online): Can railways turn their heat on the airline industry? Well, it almost did after the Indian Railways went through sea change to cater to the higher end travelers. But what it could not do was to decrease the travel time.

But considering the fact that an airline traveler has to go through various security checks and reach the airport hours before departure and also the fact that airports are always at a far flung places where transport to the city centres cost as much as the airline tickets cost, short distances were always preferred through trains by average Indian traveler.

But India’s railways are so badly managed that experiences of traveling on the rail have never been pleasant. Toilets are as bad as public toilets and food remains a big worry. Intruders and ticketless travelers continue to harass the passengers. Bed sheets and pillows are a cause of big worry and above all the compartments are never clean.

But take the case of a country like China or Europe where railways are preferred model of travelling by many because of the comfort, experience and food delicacies. Though India cannot be directly compared to services that Eurostar offers, it can certainly be compared with China.

High speed trains are becoming an obsession in China with a majority of people planning to shift from airline to bullet trains once it is fully functional across the nation. And as the airline industry is recovering from it worst period, this shift could not have come at a worse time.

So much so that the Aviation Outlook Asia forum has predicted that about 518 flights are expected to see a 50-percent plunge in traffic when the planned high-speed rail lines enter service

Already many routes that were running profitably for the airline industry is witnessing lower passengers as the bullet trains started their services. Reports suggest many of these routes are seeing as much as 60 percent drop in traffic.

And this is going to be worse as China plans to build18, 000 km of high-speed passenger rail lines where trains travel over 250 km per hour by the year 2020. This service is part of the government's economic stimulus measures to boost the economy.

Currently almost all the Chinese airlines have posted profit. Among them three major carriers Air China, China Southern and China Eastern Airlines showed great strength in results this time after suffering heavy losses last year. These airlines hold records for either the largest networked routes or carrying highest number of passengers.

China boasts the record of largest network in airline connectivity though the service in these routes leaves a lot to be desired.

But in a country like India, Railways cater to the needy more than as a luxury. The government has realized that both these factors cannot be compared in one package. This is the reason that you can reach Delhi to Mumbai in as low as Rs500 in a local train and as high as 1 lakh per day in a Maharaja train.

But somewhere, Indian Railways has to come up with a demarcation line where it has to offer better coaches, better food, better service that matches with the airline service by having a premium on the tickets. And it should not be in the lines of Rajdhani which is nothing but a glorified form of its poor pantry car service.