The two years that have gone by would be recognized as significant in the history of Indian Railways. These shall be seen as the years when the Railway Ministry broke away from tradition and convention and abandoned the business as usual approach. The Modi Govt has done its best in diagnosing most of the problems which were ailing the Indian Railways since long, one crucial one being the problem of under-investment in Railways.
Last year, a five-year investment plan of Rs. 8.56 lakh crore was unveiled by the Railway Ministry in the Union Bugdet. The capital expenditure plan for 2015-16 was increased to Rs. 1 lakh crore as against an average of about Rs. 48,000 crore spent during 2009-2014. The Railway Ministry has spent over Rs. 93,000 crore against the aforesaid target, a feat never achieved earlier by Indian Railways. For the first time, the Government decided to go in for sustained borrowing from the market to meet the enhanced capital expenditure requirements. A financing facility has been extended by LIC to provide Rs. 1.5 lakh crore over a period of five years. For 2016-17, the target of the railway ministry is to spend Rs. 1.21 lakh crore as capital expenditure which is 34% higher than 2015-16.
The Dedicated Freight Corridor has also picked up momentum and the SPV for High Speed Rail has also been registered. The setting up of loco factories at Madhepura and Marhowra is on schedule.
For the last two years, the Government has made untiring efforts to take care of the needs of our passengers. The Indian Railway is trying to resolve the problems of passengers on a real time basis by using social media. Measures have also been taken to make journeys safer and satisfying for women, divyang and senior citizens. Government has introduced many new services and has upgraded existing ones. India’s first semi high speed service, Gatimaan was introduced recently. Indian Railway is also providing long distance services: Humsafar – three tier air-conditioned, Antyodaya – completely unreserved and Tejas – a premium travel experience on Indian Railways. To increase the modal share and to make the freight operations competitive, Government has appointed key Customer Managers for freight customers and has also started a pilot project of time-tabled freight trains this year.
Indian Railway has set for itself new targets and for that it is evolving the organisational structure to suit the changing times. Indian railway is also creating new organizations and changing the process of delivery to bring in more transparency. Some of the proposed new organizations are – Railway Planning and Investment Organization, Special Unit for Transportation Research and Analytics (SUTRA) for data analytics and Special Railway Establishment for Strategic Technology & Holistic Advancement (SRESTHA) for R&D.
The Railway Ministry has announced 7 Missions –
1. Mission Raftaar to increase the average speed of the trains,
2. Mission Zero Accident,
3. Mission Hundred to commission 100 railway sidings in the next two years,
4. Mission Procurement and Consumption Efficiency (PACE),
5. Mission Capacity Utilisation,
6. Mission 25 Ton to make our infrastructure suitable for carrying 25-ton axle load, and
7. Mission Beyond Book-keeping for accounting reforms.
Government is also making efforts for commercial exploitation of its railway assets. Apart from advertising and station redevelopment, Government plans to monetise the land along Railway tracks, monetise Railway data and also encourage the Railways production units to manufacture which will further give a fillip to the Make in India program. The Railway has effectuated huge savings in fuel expenditure through power purchase agreements. Through various measures of cost optimisation the Indian Railway has saved about Rs. 12,000 crore in 2015-16 as compared to Budget Estimates.
Central Government is setting up joint ventures through its Railway Ministry with State Governments for enabling State Governments to identify projects for development in the States. In this regard, the Government is also seeking co-operation from Japan, China, South Korea, France, Spain and Germany in areas such as high speed, station redevelopment, heavy haul, logistic terminals, etc.
Some of the important achievements of Railway Ministry are:
1. Commissioned record 2828 kms of broad gauge lines which is 85% higher than 2009-14 average annual commissioning. 7.7 kms lines commissioned per day against 2009-14 average of 4.3 kms
2. Capital expenditure in 2015-16 was about Rs. 94,000 Cr which is almost double the average annual capital expenditure over the previous five-year period of 2009-14
3. Electrification of 1730 kms done in the last year is a huge jump over 2009-14 annual average of 1184 kms
4. A responsive 24×7 complaint resolution mechanism employed through the use of social media
5. Cleanliness: Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat campaign, Clean my Coach Service launched, third party cleanliness audits conducted for stations
6. E-catering, E-wheelchair, E-bedroll facilities launched to ensure seamless availability and access to these facilities.
7. Ticketing: IRCTC capacity increased, Automatic ticket vending machines installed, cancellation of PRS tickets through cell phone launched, Vikalp scheme launched
8. Speed: India’s first semi high speed train Gatimaan Express launched, trial run of Talgo coaches underway.
9. N-E Connectivity: Barak Valley of Assam, Agartala, Mizoram and Manipur connected to broad gauge
10. High speed Wi-Fi launched at various stations with a target of 400 stations by 2018
11. Environment: A provision of 1% of total project cost made in all future projects to spend on environment protection measures, major thrust on solar and wind energy provided, traditional lights replaced by environment friendly LED lights
12. 100% E-tendering implemented resulting in transparent and accountable procurement process
Modi Government has set a target before itself to give to the people of India by 2020, a rail system that they can be truly proud of and thus Railway minister Suresh Prabhu and his entire ministry is putting in all our efforts to deliver to our country all that Govt has promised
(Siddharth Singh is a Researcher at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)