Railways the world over are struggling to maintain a judicious balance between carrying freight which is the main money spinner, and carrying passengers who would like to travel in the comfort of a fast inter-city rail service, but are unwilling to pay a high tariff.
As an important engine for economic growth, Indian Railways has over the years tried to find a middle ground between demands of freight and people with limited success. Low tariffs and a plethora of trains have resulted in Indian Railways carrying a mind boggling 14 million passengers a day, of which around 6 million enjoy the convenience of the suburban services in Mumbai alone.
Time is now ripe for some bold decisions if this 1.6 million strong behemoth has to effectively manage the demand for movement of freight likely to be placed on its 64,000 km. of network in the next couple of decades and beyond. One must not forget that freight business not only earns two thirds of the revenue, it also serves as a very critical engine for economic growth for the entire nation.
Perhaps like is the case in the US and China, far greater emphasis has to be now given to movement of freight, and a deliberate moratorium placed on introduction of new passenger trains, the present number being good enough for the next five years or so. Undoubtedly, a very tough, yet vital decision requiring a very strong conviction to be carried through. Bullet trains are exciting to ride in but cost the moon, and we will have to wait perhaps another decade even to think about them.
Building capacity for enhanced levels of traffic is of top priority. However, with competing claims, perhaps the first and the most onerous task for the new minister would be to prioritise hundreds of projects, ranging from a multi crore bridge to a small overbridge at a way side station, all of which are already in the pipeline and consume scarce financial resources, which tend to get spread very thin.
Unfortunately none of these can ever be dropped without some one or the other raising a political storm over it. Certainly not the vital J&K line and those in the North East sector. Very few politicians are capable of taking the bull by the horns. Those in the recent past who could were the indomitable Scindia, who is alas no more, and Mamta Banerjee, who is now the railways minister, once again. Ms Banerjee in spite of fierce opposition from the Railway Board mandarins decided to open up container movement by rail to the private sector. She also refused the Delhi-Ahmedabad section to be electrified so that double and even triple stack container trains could be run, yielding substantial economies of scale.
In spite of Lalu Prasad?s so called turn round story and claims of earning billions, financial resources available to Railways are limited to internal revenue generation or borrowing from the Central government, or a costly public loan. The readily available World Bank, ADB and JICA loans come at a price and often have strings attached.
For instance, the 1,483-km long Western Sector of the DFC (dedicated freight corridor), which was earlier planned to be run by diesel traction to enable working of double or even triple stack container trains yielding high productivity now needs to be electrified, at a very much higher cost to give the Japanese heavy industries an opportunity to sell their electric locomotives. While work has begun on the Eastern sector on a limited scale, a firm course of action on the Western sector is still nowhere in sight.
Lalu?s main legacy would be the 7 brand new production units of which no less than 5 are being set up in Bihar. Unfortunately for Lalu, this largesse which would cost the railways about Rs. 10,000 crore did not translate into actual gains at the hustings, as Nitish Kumar was on the spot to lay claim to having conceptualised the projects when he was adorning the MR?s chair at Rail Bhavan more than 5 years ago. In any case they would be functional only by end 2010 or beyond, depending on availability of funds.
?The author is former Member (Mechanical), Railway Board