Ever since the creation of an unholy nexus between the oil and automotive giants more than half a century ago, the days of US railroads were numbered. In fact, even earlier, it had attracted the ire of the US Congressmen who had received innumerable complaints about the virtual transport monopoly enjoyed by the rail barons, and had the powerful farmers lobby up in arms over their predatory policies and unrealistic tariffs.
However, on account of heavy governmental regulation, by the early 70?s most of the US railroads had their balance sheets awash with red ink, and more than 20% of them were in the process of filing for bankruptcy. With an average of just 2% return on investment, the railroads simply could not afford the luxury of massive investments necessary to modernise and maintain their infrastructure.
In 1970, the Staggers Act breathed new life into this vital piece of infrastructure and the unshackled railroad industry was soon revived into a major freight transporter for the vast US sub-continent. However, by the time they got their act together, the airlines had lured away the long distance passenger business. The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, popularly known as the Amtrak, created by federal government, was doomed from the day one.
Though established as a private-for-profit entity, it has needed and received government subsidies ever since it started its services in 1971. In 2003, it had the dubious distinction of being given over $1 billion which, in the considered opinion of its executives, was insufficient to meet safety and reliability of service, forget the long term inputs.
The vast distances, especially coast to coast travel, involving over 4,000 km at the current speeds of rail travel could easily take 75 hours, which a passenger would not like to waste unless he or she was on a holiday. However, for the teeming masses of India who can seldom afford the high cost of air travel, taking a 3,600 km journey from Guwahati to Trivandrum lasting almost 48 hours by rail is often a necessity.
With the expiry of the Amtrak authorisation in 2002, the US legislators were again faced with the problem of deciding as to what should be the goal of an inter-city passenger programme. Issues such as whether these programmes should be operated only where it is profitable or should losing services still be subsidised to meet a perceived demand for public transportation.
It was also necessary to determine that if in the event of some service not being able to meet even its operating cost, any alternate institutional or organisational arrangement could be made to offer similar service at a lower cost to the tax payer. The Congressional Budget Office, commissioned by the Senate Committee on Budget, in its report of September 2003 came up with four separate options.
One of the options was eliminating federal subsidies and shutting down services, followed by ending national services and instead focusing on passenger rails? stronger areas (relatively short and densely populated areas of Northeast and California). Providing national long distance services, but upgrading the corridors was the third option, followed by substantially improving the Amtrak?s entire network through a major increase in funding with a view to give rail a much bigger role in transportation between the US cities.
Currently, a train journey on Amtrak for the lowest second class costs about $200 (Rs 8,000) for a 4,000 km journey from the east coast to the west coast, starting at Penn Station in New York with a transfer at Union Station in Chicago Illinois and ending up at Emeryville near San Francisco in California.
On the other hand, passengers in India are in a better situation with the same air-conditioned chair car in a Garibrath costing just Rs 1,800 for a similar 4,000 km long ride, thanks to the cross subsidy provided by the freight business.
This year, once again, Lalu has not failed to introduce scores of new trains, extend runs of existing ones, or increased frequency to keep the nation on the move, never mind if it ends up further choking the existing trunk routes and plunges the punctuality of trains to another low. Winning friends and influencing people is still a top priority and for the local small and big fish, flagging off a new train is very much a status symbol where Lalu can always be trusted to extend a helping hand.
The author is a former member of the Railway Board. These are his personal views