The first Railway Budget of the NDA government, presented in July 2014 by Sadanand Gowda, brought in a sharp increase in fares — a move taken after the government had just arrived after riding on popularity wave. There was a partial roll-back of Mumbai suburban train tickets after many, including the local BJP, protested against the increases.
The second Railway Budget — presented by Suresh Prabhu — was aspirational and one could not have asked for more. In the remaining years, the government has often deviated from that budget and hardly fulfilled any of the mega promises.
Stationed plans
Consider station redevelopment. It did not go ahead as expected. One can blame it on several external issues such as companies not responding and lack of investor interest. But how about internal reforms?
It was announced that all projects will be undertaken via the engineering procurement contracts (EPC) route. As on date, only projects funded by the World Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are being implemented this way. Those undertaken by the Railways have “item rate” contracts. In these, people bidding at a low rate initially can seek a higher value later on account of design or quantity variations.
Under Railways, on funding, there were about two projects awarded in EPC mode. Of these, one had to be cancelled.
An assurance on toilets in all top-category stations was given. This promise has not yet been entirely fulfilled — some of the newly built toilets were locked after commissioning. The promise of RO water in most stations has again not been fully implemented.
Also, the Dedicated Rail Freight Corridor (DFC), the cost of which has shot up, has not been completed. I will not be surprised if ultimately passenger trains are run on the DFC, as its debt can then be repaid from taxpayers’ money.
As for the planned High Speed Rail, it is not clear who will pay the additional cost if expenses go up. Will JICA provide low-cost funding or India will have to bear it?
Few takers
The Railways has been introducing various products for passengers such as Tejas, Gatimaan and Talgo trains. There are not many takers for Tejas; Gatimaan has takers only on weekends.
Identifying products and routes is important. Inflexible dynamic pricing has resulted in trains running empty even at times when passengers are available.
The launching of any new product requires imagination and careful planning. Rajdhani and Shatabdi have been success stories from day one, and the models have been introduced on several routes. AC three-tier sees huge demand, and Garib Rath trains have also been received well. It is noteworthy that these products are not increasing the subsidy burden of passengers.
On the positive side, credit is due for the project planning and infrastructure strengthening, as aggressive borrowing has completely mitigated the funds shortage.
Another bold step was to free the Railways from populism and political pressure by merging its budget with the Union Budget. No doubt, Railways have grown and there is demand. But road transportation has grown much faster.(As told to Mamuni Das)
(Subodh Jain is former Member-Engineering, Railway Board)