A pandemic-prompted lockdown that resulted in the complete halt of passenger operations for over a month, shutting down of production units and stoppage of infrastructure work were some of the defining events of the year 2020 for the Railways.

But with the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project kicking off with the award of over ₹32,000 crore worth of contracts and the flagging off of the dedicated freight corridor that aims to award ₹14,000-crore worth contracts, the Railways has put the pandemic behind it and is getting ready for modernisation.

It has embarked on steps to corporatise production units, privatise passenger train operations, and also modernise and privatise operations of some large railway stations like New Delhi that will unfold next year.

During the pandemic, passenger operations had to take a backseat given the fears of transmitting infection and different intensities of lockdown in various parts of the country. Also, people avoided travel unless necessary.

More focus on freight

The national transporter went all out to focus on moving more freight, which earlier accounted for two-thirds of its total revenues. PS Mishra, Member - Operations and Business Development, Railway Board, categorises three quarters of the fiscal as slump, recovery and growth periods. “April saw the suspension of all passenger services and a steep drop in freight transportation demand owing to the pandemic and the lockdown and the freight loading was 65 per cent of last year. However, within the first quarter, the signs of improvement were there. July to September were the recovery phase where the Railways’ steps for tariff rationalisation and ease of doing business started showing their impact. In the mid quarter, freight loading breached the last year mark. Once the momentum was gained, freight loading has continued to rise every month into the third quarter,” Mishra told BusinessLine .

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Changing the cumulative freight loading trend from a year-on-year deficit of 70.4 million tonnes (mt) in early August to an incremental loading of close to 50 mt in the last five months was tough for Railways — the single largest employer in the country.

“The biggest challenges during this period were ensuring the safety of our staff, bringing out our crews and stations masters to stations during the lockdown conditions, and coordinating with state authorities to allow labour to come to our good sheds for loading and unloading activities while one of the strictest lockdown in the world was in effect,” said Mishra.

“The Railways put protocols for safety and security of its frontline staff like loco pilots, guards, station masters, train examination staff, yard staff like yard masters, and points men in short time; and got them permits for travelling from their place of residence to the place of work. Guidelines had to be issued for pan-India implementation at a moment’s notice,” explained Mishra on working during the pandemic.

“Though the country was under lockdown, most of the officers involved in the operational and commercial activities were working more than ever to keep the system running,” said Mishra.

In the early days, the Railways adopted a humanitarian approach to distribute food to the needy. It also stepped in to produce cheaper PPE kits, and made available its hospitals and coaches for treatment, if required. However, the Railways also faced flak for shutting down at a short notice.

A sudden lockdown and with no alternative and affordable means of transport, several migrants across the country had to walk hundreds and thousands of kilometres back to their native places in the hot summer.

Special trains

From May 1, Railways cautiously started “shramik special” trains — point to point trains aimed at moving stranded people — provided the origin and terminating State governments were on board.

Since then, the transporter has resumed partial services on long distance routes and suburban services in phases.

The Railways used the time to complete its maintenance works, and employed displaced labourers to the extent possible, according to Vinod Yadav, Chairman and CEO, Railway Board. Yadav added that the Railways will meet its operating expenses from its revenues this financial year.

Meanwhile, as India heads for the Budget, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has asked the Centre to include high speed rail projects in the ‘Project Imports’ scheme to get import duty concessions. High speed rail projects require import of huge materials and machineries and being new innovative projects, they are not included in the “Project Imports” applicability scheme, according to CII DG Chanderjit Banerjee.

Also, as the Railways proceeds on path of privatisation, several players are waiting for clarity on having an independent regulator. In the last few years, the idea to have a railway regulator has somehow not fructified despite several initiatives to appoint one.

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