Train 18, Indian Railways’ fastest self-propelled engine-less train, was manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) Chennai under the able leadership of Sudhanshu Mani. The Train 18 man, as he is often called these days, retired on December 31, 2018 after gifting India a train set that heralds a new era of rail travel in the country. Making the semi-high speed 180 kmph capable Train 18 is no mean feat! To achieve that in a record time of 18 months – from design to development – is an even bigger achievement. And having spearheaded the Train 18 project and several other important projects at ICF, Sudhanshu Mani is a man with with several out-of-the-box ideas on the way forward for Indian Railways.
For one, he believes that Indian Railways should eventually manufacture only air-conditioned coaches to offer premium experience to all its passengers. For another, he is of the view that entry on Indian Railways’ platforms should be restricted and that the network needs “Train 18 clones”! In an exclusive interaction with Financial Express Online, Sudhanshu Mani jokes that he may now be called WAR – wise after retirement! Asked about the top steps Indian Railways should take to be a better network in the coming years, Mani said, “Indian Railways has a legacy of bombardment by a litany of advice from retired executives, and we used to derisively call them WAR (wise after retirement). Even at the risk of being labelled one myself and without going into the nitty-gritty of implementation, I seriously think that the 5 steps are achievable and should serve Indian Railways well.”
1) Rationalize fare structure and reduce the cross subsidy from earnings of freight traffic to passenger fares. “Indians must learn that travelling is not an inexpensive business; although some subsidy is inescapable but even that should be shared among Indian Railways, states and cities,” Mani said. Having done that, improve the standard of amenities, particularly in non-AC segment; a day has to come when India would manufacture only AC coaches as we have pretensions of being a world power and cannot have countrymen travelling in poor conditions, Mani said.
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2) The penetration of container traffic on Indian Railways is far lower than other major freight railways. The policy framework must be tweaked and familiar turfs given up quickly, it would give a tremendous boost to India’s economy as well as Indian Railways. At the same time, Indian Railways should develop total logistical solutions, including partnering with other modes; just being a simple transporter from one station will not help in coming days and calls for some out-of-the-box thinking.
3) Mani is of the view that train sets have to be proliferated at a great speed. And simultaneously, a hub and spoke system should be evolved. “Long distance trains, served by Train 18 clones, stopping at very few stations and MEMUs/DEMUs, in little sister format, to link nearby cities and towns,” he said.
4) Acknowledging that there has been lot of stress on spending on infrastructure in recent years to drive growth, the former GM of ICF feels that there is a rat race to spend. “Is all the spending leading to guaranteed return? There should be a more critical analysis of infrastructure projects, perhaps by a third party, so that empire building and populist spending are eschewed,” he prescribes.
5) Another idea close to his heart is to have controlled-access to railway platforms. “At least in major cities, permitting only passengers with attendants only for differently-abled and senior citizens should be introduced. A railway platform is for passengers and not for an army of purposeless wanderers and hangers on,” Mani concludes.