Amartya Sinha
The Narendra Modi-led NDA government is expected to table its maiden Railway Budget in Parliament soon. Just as the General Budget, the Rail Bugdet too will be keenly watched by experts and the country as a whole.
Here are the challenges that the government will have to address -
Track expansion and modernisation -
The policy paralysis of the previous UPA government is said to have hampered electrification, expansion and modernisation of Railway tracks. The tracks which run through vast swathes of desert land in Rajasthan and through the hilly terrains of North East are yet to be electrified. Also, a few-metre gauge Railway tracks in North East still remains to be changed into broad-gauge 67 years after independence. One such example is the Lumding-Silchar Railway metre gauge track which is undergoing expansion at a snail's pace. The track is being upgraded to a broad gauge track. The track must be converted into a double line taking into consideration the future prospects of traffic on the route.
It can be said to be a matter of shame that the Indian Railways have failed to electrify the Delhi-Guwahati route though the plan to do so was sanctioned under the ministership of Lalu Prasad Yadav. The track is electrified only till Barauni junction. Another Railway track from Kolkata to Guwahati via New Jalpaiguri is electrified till Khana jucntion while the 2020 vision document of the Railways mentions that electrified seamless Railway connectivity will be operationalised between Kolkata and Guwahati by the year 2020.
In the state of Rajasthan, out of a total of 5854 kilometres only 642 kilometres is electrified, whereas in Uttar Pradesh out of a total route of 8702 kilometres only 2137 kilometres was electrified till 17 February, 2011. The existing Railway tracks must be modernised with concrete foundations for increasing the speeds of superfast trains running on LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch) coaches. The tracks need to withstand the load of heavy traction motors located in the underbelly of WAP-7 locomotives and vibrations while the trains run on them at speeds of more that 180 kilometres per hour. India can also follow the European model of track construction where concrete sleepers are being replaced with plastic and fibre glass sleepers which can absorb more vibrations.
Overhauling of locomotives –
Indian Railways have already started experimenting with new generation of diesel and electric locomotives. Electric WAP-7 locomotives are already under limited use in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains. The WAP-7D (7000 horsepower) with dual brakes is also undergoing experimentation. On the other hand the Railways are yet to commercialise the WDG-5 (Bheem) diesel locomotive technology even after two years of its inception. The implementation of WAP-7D technology must be speeded up.
Dedicated Freight corridors -
The country lacks contemporary Railway infrastructure for speedier transportation of goods in important routes. A Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) was conceptualised during the UPA-1 regime. Work is under progress on the western freight corridor between Delhi and Mumbai. But work on the Ludhiana-Kolkata eastern freight corridor is moving at snail's pace. The other five freight corridors - East-West Corridor (Kolkata- Mumbai), North-South Corridor (Delhi-Chennai), East Coast Corridor (Kharagpur-Vijayawada), Chennai-Bangalore Freight Corridor and Southern Corridor (Goa- Chennai) – which were proposed during the previous UPA regime still remains on papers.
Rationalisation of fares -
At a time when Railway fares seems to have been frozen in a time warp, more emphasis should be given to rationalisation of fares as per the present market conditions. It would be nothing less than irrational to maintain low fares to cater to the populace. The Railways should explore the option of running the system at a no profit, no loss basis which would be beneficial for marginalised sections of the society as well as save the exchequer from huge financial losses.
FDI, corporatisation and privatisation -
Speculation is ripe that the government is ready to welcome 100% FDI in a all areas of Railway infrastructure (including high speed tracks, dedicated freight corridors and station development). Moreover, corporatisation of Railways and Railway related departments can be executed which will go a long way in increasing the efficiency of the transporter. The government must also allow the Rail Tarrif Authority (RTA) to function independently.
Fleet modernisation-
The Railways must lay more emphasis on fleet modernisation by introducing high speed LHB coaches in all trains and using WAP-7 electric locomotives in all superfast trains. Fire proof coaches should also be introduced on all existing trains. The curtains between seats and berths (in AC 2 tier coaches) should be done away with as these materials are prone to catching fire.
Safety and security -
The Railways must install CCTV cameras and fire alarms on all trains for the safety and security of passengers. Daily passengers must be stopped from travelling illegally in reserved coaches at any cost. The number of women RPF personnel on trains should be increased for the safety and security of women passengers in local and long distance trains.
High speed corridors -
The Railways should initialise work on several high speed corridors on suburban routes to start with. High speed bullet trains should also be introduced on trunk routes later. The government can also explore the option of bringing in sophisticated Maglev (Magnetic Levitation) technology for running very high speed wheel-less Maglev trains on electromagnetic tracks in urban conglomerations and suburban passenger corridors.
