Public representatives should travel by train for real Rail reform

The Railway budget will put speed, scale, service and safety on track to fetch additional revenue of Rs 4000 crore in the next fiscal. Railway Minister, Mr Prabhu has projected a freight revenue growth of 13.55 percent and fare growth of 16.7 percent in 2016-17. The Railways Annual Plan needs a total budget of Rs 40000 crore. And it is estimated that the Railways will need an investment of Rs 8.5 lakh crore in the next five years. The massive fund will be arranged through public private partnership, from state governments, from NBFC and from Infrastructure fund. Mr Prabhu has not increased the fare and banks upon freight and fare growth to sustain his Railway reform exercise. The point is how Prabhu will meet the investment need without increasing the fare.

Nearly 13 million Indians travel by trains daily and the Railways carries 1.3 million tons of freight every day. The rail tracks have already reached optimum capacity and a fare growth of 16.7% would be a difficult target. If the massive investment does not generate income it may put stress on economy. Railway incurs heavy loss due to excess per kilometer running cost, frequent accidents, massive theft, mismanagement, poor governance, corruption and investment in needless infrastructure etc are the main reasons for Indian Railway incurring Rs 24600 crore loss in this fiscal.

Investing in rail reform without reforming the human resources will be like putting the cart before the horses. Railways has 1.3 billion employees. Offering one time VRS schemes to ageing non computer savvy staff could halve administrative cost in the long run. In the past many accidents occurred due to human errors. Before remodeling stations it should be examined whether it is actually required. More than a dazzling modern station people won’t mind to have an old but clean platform with clean water and hygienic food. Instead of replacing items many things can be repaired and the quality of maintenance should improve. Use of solar energy, GPS aided geo-augmented navigation (GAGAN), raising passengers’ capacity from 21 million to 30 million per day, increasing track length by 20% and freight capacity by 50% are welcome steps. But taking railway to north east, Jammu Kashmir and Naxalite areas is not free from financial risk if we take in to account the number of sabotage in the last five years.

The turnaround of the Indian railways depends on the performance of economic sectors. People need employment and surplus income to spend on rail travel. In the last ten years job growth is only 1.2 %. So making Railways a business proposition depends on inclusive employment opportunities in both rural and urban centers. There are 47.6 lakh artisans living all over India. They can go to any corner of India to market their products. Indian Railways can serve the purpose of linking agriculture products market the way it links the banana production in Bhusawal of Maharashtra. There are hundreds of farm products which donot reach the domestic market. Meghalaya is known for its horticulture potential as it grows high quality pineapple, orange, Litchi, jack fruit, pear, peach, lemon, arecanut, black paper and rapeseed etc in huge quantity. Orissa also produces good quality coconut, cashewnut, arecanut and basubati rice etc. Orissa in spite of having agriculture potential continues to depend on food supply from neighboring states. A quick rail link from farm to market could increase farmers’ interest. For better railway governance the elected representatives should commute in trains for minimum five times in a year and cover minimum 3000 kilometer distance. This will link them with the ground reality. Grass root level information always scores over econometrics. There is need for a dedicated monitoring mechanism which can directly report to Prime Minister’s office about the quality of rail services, infrastructure and safety. Media has a big role to play. Indian

Railway has reached a sorry stage because media has ignored the Rail Sector for decades. Top media personnel must travel in Railways at least thrive in a year to know what the millions of commuters experience every day.

By Sudhansu R Das