The Hindu Business Line : No freeloading

PERHAPS FOR THE first time, a Railway Minister, while presenting the Budget for his Ministry, was seen trying to treat the Railways as a provider of services, not a milch cow. Not merely because Mr Lalu Prasad refrained from raising fare and freight. But because he seemed serious about improving the behemoth's efficiency. Clearly, he wants to cash in on the current economic boom, though largely by reducing the average turnaround time of a wagon through a slew of measures — steep penalties for detention, single-point rake loading and so on.

This fiscal, the average turnaround time of a wagon was reduced from seven to six days — leading to a 14 per cent improvement in wagon availability without any investment in rolling stock. A further improvement to five days (16 per cent) is targeted for the year ahead. By introducing registration fees for all freight customers and charging premium rates for the same commodity depending on the urgency of the customer and extending the forfeiture period, the Railways hopes to improve its funds position and to that extent the market borrowings should drop. The Minister also wants round-the-clock loading, particularly at terminals with mechanised handling facilities. This is why the free period in the Railways' own sidings has been slashed and its unused land is to be offered for private warehouses and sidings. The message is clear: The days of freeloading are over; take delivery of consignments on time or pay the rent. The proposals for double-deck freight trains, Concor-type operations by private agencies and a pilot project for an electronic payment gateway all point to the winds of change sweeping the Rail Bhavan.

Surprisingly, the Rail Budget is not harping on acquisition and modernisation of rolling stock despite the steadily rising freight throughput. The success of the proposed public-private partnership in wagon procurement scheme, though a right move, will depend on how quickly the Railways gets rid of the large number of old wagons now constituting the chunk of its fleet. Also the unhappy experience of the earlier Own-Your-Wagon scheme must have rankled. Flogging of old wagons for faster turnaround may yield results but only temporarily; in the long run the replacement requirement will only multiply. This calls for proper maintenance of the fleet, again raising the question of how much of the Railways' scarce resources can be used for upkeep and how much for acquisition.

Mr Lalu Prasad could obviously not resist the temptation of some populist measures including the introduction of 43 trains. But he cannot be blamed for any regional bias in this regard. Also, he has promised a review of underutilised trains, though the much awaited elimination of cross subsidy between freight and fare is still to become a reality. The experiment with high-speed trains, if undertaken with aging rakes could prove costly. The regrouping of commodities into 80 is welcome. But, then, if it means that a commodity with low classification will get regrouped with another with higher rating the result may not always be comfortable for customers. The high cost of operation is another area of concern, calling for accounting reforms and a new costing strategy.

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