Transforming Railways
Dr Arvind Kumar
Railways have been the spine of Indian transport system as well as economy. In the days of yore, it was the harbinger of national integration, though unknowingly, when people of all castes and religions travelled in the same compartment. It served as the building block of Indian nationhood linking east to west and north to south, Kamrup to Kutch and Kashmir (or at least Jammu) to Kanyakumari.
With the changing times, those ideas and that idealism have seemingly become a passe mainly due to derailment of the objectives that this instutution should strive for. Still a major transporter of passengers and carrier of freight, it is fast losing its monopoly. It transports 30 million passengers every day, which is only 10 percent of India’s long-distance or suburban passenger traffic. When it comes to moving freight, the 2.65 million tonnes it transports every day seems dramatic — but is only 30 percent of the freight traffic in India.
A gradual decline has seemingly set in the present Railway system which is reflected in different aspects. Lack of hygeine and basic amenities for the passengers, increasing number of accidents, excessive politicization, growing deficit in revenue and other attendant maladies have adversely impacted the efficiency and performance of this institution of great historical significance.
The Indian Railways over the years have become a highly politicized institution. The persons who happened to be at the helm of affairs in the Railways, some of them tried to nurse their own constituencies in the name of development of the Railways while the real interests of the nation were kept at the backburner. Betwwen December 2000 and 31 May 2012, there have been 18 major rail accidents in which 703 people died over 255 persons were injured.Besides, Indian Railways has turned to be a loss incurring enterprise. According to a CAG report, the Railways suffered a loss of over Rs 3,200 crore for operating on uneconomical routes during 2005-10.
Nevertheless, without a radical transformation in the manner in which Indian Railways is managed — and without bringing in good governance and capacity building of the railway employees, India’s rail story will keep going downhill. The big question at this juncture is: can the new railway minister transform the system or will he continue the legacy of his predecessors?
