The question was simple but not the reply. The question put to a senior railway official was,“With passenger movement totally suspended and freight movement largely, never before in your long career in the Railways did you have such an easy time, isn’t it”.

But the bitter reply from the jaded railway official was, “What easy time? Are you mad, you’ve no idea, we are actually overworked, terribly hard pressed.

Earlier, “I used to go to office at 10 am and worked till 7/8 pm with a half a dozen people under me; now I am working from home all alone, no subordinate staff to help and virtually 24x7.”

Also, the roles were well defined, but not any more. In an emergency situation, a senior official is required to do various kinds of jobs. No choice. Mobile phones, whatsapp and emails have only added to the woes.

But then the story is the same for scores of railway officers across the country. Not without reasons though.

Rolling stock

In normal situation Indian Railways operate an estimated 13,000 passenger trains transporting over two crore passengers every day. Since March 25 all these trains have been stabled. Since there are not many sheds to accommodate these trains, most of them have been detained either in stations, some located in remote places, or in open sidings, even 100 kms away.

Security of these rakes, a major issue, has to be ensured to prevent large scale pilferage of lights, fans and vandalism. The maintenance of the rakes, a regular exercise in normal times, has taken a backseat causing concern to the authorities.

A large number of coaches are being converted into isolation coaches at a cost. To that extent fewer coaches will be available for movement of passengers when normal operation resumes. How the Railways cope with the situation remains to be seen.

Freight movement

The scenario on the freight movement front is no better. In normal times, the Railways run an estimated 9,500 freight trains a day totalling over a billion tonnes of freight traffic, annually. Not even a fraction of it is currently being operated. According to one report, IR operated in past two weeks 2,600 wagons (42 covered wagons make up a rake) with essential commodities – 1,340 wagons of sugar; 958 wagons of salt; and 316 wagons of edible oil, each wagon carrying around 50-60 tonnes.

No, there is no restriction on freight movement but where is the traffic. The industrial demand for electricity being at a low ebb, the power houses have cut down on their generation with the result their coal stocks are comfortable entailing low offtake and fewer movement of coal rakes. Coal accounts for about 40 per cent of the Railways’ total revenue earning freight traffic. The spokesman of a private port points out that the government insists on uninterrupted loading of imported coking coal, the main staple of steel plants, so that the steel production does not take a hit but it is easier said than done.

Not enough workers

First, there is an acute shortage of workers to ensure full loading of a rake. Worse, judging from the demand for imported coal, the steel plants too, it is felt, might be going slow in the present situation. Not only coal, the suspension of industrial activity across the country has brought down the demand for other raw materials required by various industrial units and for finished products produced by them hitting hard the railways’ freight movement.

Yet many in the Railways are virtually having sleepless nights. Despite the crowding of idle rakes at various stations, the paths have to be created amid the throng to facilitate priority movement of trains carrying essential commodities including Amul’s milk and milk products. The station masters in the intermediate stations are the real heroes who create the paths braving all odds.

The staff problem caused no less a headache. The locos have been stabled in different locations and loco pilots, some of them women, had to be transported to their respective places. The on-board catering and laundry staff, all contractor workers serving different passenger trains, were detained in various locations. They too had to be brought back to their respective base stations. Worst sufferers were those undergoing training at different training institutes across the country. They were stuck even after the completion of their training courses. They had to be provided with regular meals, not an easy job in an uncertain situation when the employees of the canteen contractors stayed away from their work. Capping it all, the security for women participants.

comment COMMENT NOW