Thanks to the various acts of omission and commission of political heavyweights who had lorded over the Rail Bhavan for the last two decades—leaving the 1.4-million-strong behemoth struggling to stay financially afloat—Suresh Prabhu has inherited a host of problems and getting the Indian Railways back on track will indeed be a Herculean task.

The populist agenda of his predecessors who announced hundreds of new trains every year, hiking the number of passenger trains originating daily from a manageable 9,000 to over 13,000, in the process crowding out freight trains, is a legacy which Prabhu has inherited.

Wisely, Prabhu refrained from announcing any new trains in his budget, perhaps in the process disappointing his political allies, a risk he was willing to take for improving operational efficiency. Hopefully, he would do the same this year too.

Also missing in the Rail Budget were any new multi-crore projects, a welcome trend which again he would hopefully maintain. Nearly 500 such projects—quite a few for non-remunerative lines—had been sanctioned over the last two decades, and are now firmly in the pipeline; these are expected to cost the Railways over R1 lakh crore at the last count.

Prabhu has given a major push for doubling, gauge conversion and other similar initiatives to build track capacity so that the logjam on some of the key sections can be removed, improving punctuality of passenger trains and enabling freight to move faster than the current average speed of 25 kmph.

Thinking ‘out of the box’ has been Prabhu’s forte, in particular focusing on improving passenger amenities. Over the last few months, he has taken a number of initiatives which have been well appreciated by the discerning traveller. In particular, his move to make booking tickets a less painful task has earned him kudos.

For 17 long years, the 740-km-long Konkan Railways project, helmed by E Sreedharan and initiated by the then railway minister George Fernandes, has remained a single-line track, not only due to paucity of funds but also for lack of political will.

In a bold move, Prabhu has ordered doubling of the track, which will not only increase freight throughput but also significantly improve punctuality of passenger trains plying on this unique line linking Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. With its own organisational structure and work culture, Konkan Railways will at last get an opportunity to become a major line, significantly contributing to the economic growth of the west coast.

The Rs 11,000 crore project will also see the entire stretch being electrified, enabling EMU (electric multiple unit) suburban services to be run near major urban areas such as Udupi, Goa, Karwar and Mangalore. However, with nearly 2,000 bridges, 91 tunnels and scores of yards to be modified to accommodate a double track, the task is formidable.

Perhaps taking up work on various sections simultaneously, as had been the norm when the project began 25 years ago, could speed up work. The original route, with non-existent approach roads, had taken eight years. Now, with better techniques and mechanised rack laying, it may still take five years, if not more. Fortunately, the deep pockets of LIC will ensure that the work will not be held up for want of funds.

The Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC)—the R82,000 crore project initiated a decade ago—has also been fast-tracked, with tenders for R17,000 crore of work expected to be finalised in the next six months.

Expected to save 457.5 million tonnes of CO2 in 30 years, it would be a game-changer for the movement of freight in both the 1,840-km-long Ludhiana-Dankuni eastern corridor and the 1,500-km-long Delhi-Mumbai western corridor, ushering in an era of fast, reliable, time-tabled freight service.

An important part of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) initiative, serving as its transport backbone, the DFC was launched with much fanfare in 2006. Apart from the high standards of work and mechanised track laying which is expected by awarding the work to renowned players in the field of infrastructure such as L&T, the usual cost or time overruns may not happen.

For capacity augmentation in some of the busiest rail corridors to de-congest and move trains at higher average speeds, Prabhu hopes to commission no less than 2,500-km new track in the current fiscal. He has earmarked 77 projects involving doubling and gauge conversions to be undertaken in 24 high-density corridors.

Reportedly, 28 of these projects have already got in-principle approval and tenders have been invited for the same.

The railways hopes to invest over Rs 43,000 crore for network expansion and other amenities in 2015-16, as against Rs 26,600 crore in the previous year, a quantum jump of over 65%.

The capacity augmentation would understandably be in some of the most saturated sections of the golden quadrilateral—Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Howrah, Delhi-Chennai and Howrah-Chennai. With an ambitious target of commissioning nearly 7 km of track per day in the current year, the contractors and railway engineers are in for some hectic days ahead.

The author is former member, Railway Board