INDIAN Railways have long been in a mess. There have been accidents galore in the last decade. Railways minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda is well aware of it and has to face daunting challenges. Many projects which had been on the drawing board still remain up in the air. Gowda has to choose his priorities, which is not an easy task. The largest public sector organization in the country has to wrestle with a financial crunch. Decisions have to be taken on the tricky issue of whether to raise passenger fare and freight or not. Gowda may have to stray away from the usual cult of populism and take dynamic action. If the Railways are poorly managed, the Indian economy will be significantly hit. It is necessary to make haste and take in hand a modernization programme. One step is to see that some of the freight transported by road is diverted to the railways to introduce competitiveness. Two years ago, Sam Pitroda who was appointed by Indian Railways to deal with the matter felt that modernization could be done in a span of a few years. But his ideas were not implemented. Less than half of the existing tracks bear only 80% of traffic. Modernization should emphasize improvement of safety on tracks and bridges as well as in the manning of the signaling system.
Gowda has to raise funds for modernization. The trend so far has been to use railway profit from freight to subsidize passenger fare. But it does not really benefit society and create jobs. Gowda plans on injecting FDI into the infrastructure for railways. It is of course, a sensible policy. But priority should be given to modernization and better management of railway finances. Otherwise, money is unlikely to come from outside. A leaf may be taken out of the dream railway budget under Laloo Prasad Yadav.
