The Hindu Business Line : Rail Budget: Off the track on certain key issues

Mr Lalu Prasad’s performance as the Railway Minister in past five years has been impressive and he has succeeded in projecting Indian Railways as one of the high-performers. But it may be in order to have a performance audit to assess how many of the promises made in the earlier Budgets have actually been delivered upon.

Santanu Sanyal

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Those familiar with the goings-on in the corridors of Rail Bhavan do not rule out the possibility of hikes outside the Railway Budget for 2008-09 as has been done in the past through various means, such as changing the classifications, allowing overloading, introducing surcharges and slapping new types of imposts.

The mandarins in Rail Bhavan, in their bid to play to the gallery, often remain oblivious to the imperative of timely completion of projects. There are any number of projects sanctioned years ago but yet to see the light of day. It often takes years, even to lay tracks over a distance of a few kilometres.

The focus of the Railway Budget appears to be on the kitty. Safety received only a passing reference. The Rs 17,000-crore Special Railway Safety Fund, created by the earlier Railway Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, in 2001, with a tenure of five years, lapsed in 2006. However, Mr Lalu Prasad got a one-year extension.

While earning profits is welcome, it need not necessarily be the Railways’ sole consideration. Apart from safety and security of passengers, running trains punctually should also receive top priority. Next, the issue of passenger amenities.

What kind of comfort can passengers hope to have in a compartment in which more berths are being squeezed into the same space without increasing the number of bathrooms?

High-speed trains

Overloading of trucks has been banned by the apex court, but overloading of wagons appears to have been ignored. Overloading of wagons has been legalised by the Railway Minister, (eg, CC+6,CC+8) in his desperate bid to earn more revenue without adding much to the infrastructure.

Fifty-three new trains have been announced on a saturated system, without making provision to improve the infrastructure. Next, the speed of trains.

On a high-density network, accounting for nearly one-third of the country’s total rail network of 66,000 km, the average speed of passenger train is 55 km and goods train 20 km. Even Rajdhani and Shatabdi Expresses run at an average speed of 75 km.

The fastest passenger train is Shatabdi Express between Bhopal and Kanpur with an average speed of 140 km, well below the speed of fast trains the Railway Minister vowed to introduce after visiting countries where such trains operate.

There are some unanswered questions: Why is the average turnaround time of wagons still so high despite slashing of the free time and hike in demurrage? Why are more diesel locomotives proposed to be acquired despite the Minister’s announcement to go for electrification of more routes?

Why do the same wagon manufacturers take much less time to deliver a rake to a WIS (Wagon Investment Scheme) customer vis-a-vis the Railways? Is the shortage of wheels receiving due attention?

Anything new?

One wonders if all the announcements made in the Budget are new.

For example, the western section of the Dedicated Freight Corridor was sanctioned earlier. But the progress of work has been painfully slow. Till now, the basic alignment of the routes has not been finalised and the blueprint is not yet ready.

One is not clear how the project is going to be implemented — as the Railways’ own project or through a separate entity in which the Railways may be or may not be a partner. Land acquisition is another issue that may add to costs and time delay.

he Railway Minister has been quoted as saying that he is in favour of implementing the project as the Railways’ own project. But then the Railways’ own track in regard to timely and efficient execution of projects is not something to write home about.

Much, therefore, will depend on whether he comes back as the Railway Minister after the next Lok Sabha election. Some other issues are also critical. For example, the issue of land acquisition. The delay will only add to the costs.

Mr Lalu Prasad’s performance as the Railway Minister in the past five years has been impressive in the sense that he presented five budgets in a row, all surpluses, and has succeeded in projecting Indian Railways as one of the high-performers.

But would it not also be in order to have a performance audit that makes a proper assessment of how many of the promises made in the earlier Budgets have actually been delivered upon.

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