In the last few years the way we interact and commute with the Railways has changed. Internet-based ticket bookings, clean platforms, automatic sliding doors, retractable footsteps, zero discharge vacuum bio toilets, world class interior and exterior compartments, on board infotainment, zooming trains, in fact it is totally a new experience to travel on Indian Railways.
Indian railways has a very long and cherished history. The country’s very first train ran from Red Hills to Chintadripet bridge in Madras in 1837. This train built by Arthur Cotton, transported granite for road building. In 1853, India had its very first passenger train which ran for 34 kilometres between Bori Bunder (Mumbai) and Thane. The Railways has also figured prominently in India’s freedom struggle. Being the fastest mode of transport, then, it was used to carry dissemination materials from one place to another. From just 34 and some odd kilometers, today it has grown to be the fourth largest railway network in the world. The route length network is spread over 1,23,236 km, with 13,452 passenger trains and 9,141 freight trains from 7,349 stations plying 23 million travellers and 3 million tonnes of freight daily. India's railway network is recognised as one of the largest railway systems in the world under single management.
Every increase in network was a milestone in itself. It connected the hinterlands of the country. It brought in opportunities for employment. In the pre-Independence day the Britishers extensively used it for transporting goods from the hinterland to the ports. From there it was shipped to Britain. Later, the finished products were exported to India and sold at exorbitant price. During war times, the railways was used for quick transport of weapons, artillery and soldiers. Being convenient and cheapest mode of transport, the railways was also patronized by the common masses. It suited the British interest. They nurtured it. After Independence the Indian government realized the importance of railways for the socio-economic development of the country. The government initiated many rail projects to bring villages closer to cities.
Till a couple of years back, there was a separate Budget session for the Indian Railways. An eagerly awaited Budget session, just like the Union Budget! Union Minister of Railways is one of the most converted posts in the Indian Union of Ministers. Many a luminaries have headed the august office of Indian Railways and contributed to the growth of Indian Railways. Few of the luminaries who have made immense contributions are N Gopalaswami Ayyangar (1948–52), who drafted the now ‘inoperative’ article 370, regrouped the Indian Railways into six zonal systems - Central, Eastern, Northern, North-eastern, Southern, and Western. Lal Bahadur Shastri (1952-56), who latter on went on to become the second prime of India, and the first railway minister to resigned from office following a major train accident taking moral responsibility. He was succeeded by Jagjivan Ram (1956-1962), who latter on went on to become the deputy prime minister of India. Gulzarilal Nanda, who was twice prime minister of India, headed Railway Ministry for a short period. Madhu Dandavate (1977-1979) brought improvement in second class railway travel by replacing wooden berths with berths consisting of two inches foam. He along with George Fernandes, Railway Minister (1989-19) actively campaigned for the Konkan Railway. C K Jaffer Sharief (1991-1995) was instrumental in gauge conversion of railways in the state, where all or most of the different gauges of tracks were converted to broad gauges, and thereby saving Railways a lot of money. Nitish Kumar headed the Indian Railways twice in 1998 - 1999 and 2001-2004. In his first tenure he resigned following the Gaisal train disaster, for which he took responsibility as a minister. In his second tenure as Railway Minister, he brought in widespread reforms, such as internet ticket booking facility in 2002, opening a record number of railway ticket booking counters and introducing the tatkal scheme for instant booking. Mamta Banerjee (1999-2000) and (2009-2011) introduced non-stop Duronto Express trains connecting large cities as well as a number of other passenger trains, including women-only trains. The Anantnag-Qadigund segment of the Jammu–Baramulla line was inaugurated during her tenure. In his tenure as Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav (2004-2009) left passenger fares untouched and banned plastic cups from being used to serve tea at railway stations and replaced those with kulhars (earthen cups). It was during Pawan Kumar Bansal (2012-2013) tenure Indian Railways focused on improving the condition of railways. Pawan Bansal came up with first ever rail link to connect Arunachal Pradesh. During his tenure Internet ticketing from 0030 hours to 2330 hours as well as E-ticketing through mobile phones was made available. Railways identified 104 stations for upgradation in cities with more than one million population and of religious significance. During the tenure of Suresh Prabhu (2014-2017), Tejas, the high-speed train, was introduced which runs at a top operational speed of 130 km/h. It was during his period, contact through social media and digitization increased manifold. Waiting rooms (lounges) were upgraded. In his tenure, Indian Railways supplied material on a massive scale for disaster hit areas, for eg, Railways sent the Jaldoot water trains to drought hit areas of Latur in Maharashtra. The Railways also supplied food grains and ready-to-eat food packets in flood ravaged areas of Assam. As part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, toilets were installed at all the railway stations. Water ATMs were installed at railway stations to dispense clean drinking water. And it was also during his tenure Deen Dayalu, Atyodaya, Humsafar Express, Gatimaan Express trains were introduced. The railways introduced Tri-Netra system for diesel drivers. This terrain imaging infrared enhanced optical and radar assisted system assists the diesel drivers to avoid train accidents due to visibility constraints. Before Suresh Prabhu handed over the reins of Railways to Piyush Goyal, a cabin for guard was attached, penalty for littering came into force and railways entered into a era of professional accountability of railways’ employees. The incumbent railway minister Piyush Goyal took over the rein in September 2017 after his successful stint as Minister of State for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines (Independent Charge).
The successive governments have realized India Railways is an engine for socio-economic development of the country. Taking this into foremost consideration, the governments in power through the railway ministry have nurtured Indian Railways and have time and again come with solutions benefitting millions of passengers who travel by railways. Way back from the1960s the Railways introduced a series of Rajdhani Express, connecting the national capital New Delhi with the capitals or largest city of various states. In the last five to six years the way the passenger interacts with Indian Railways has gone for a sea change. Technology, automation, modernization and artificial intelligence have replaced the old manual ways of doing things. The dirty railways stations of yesteryears are now clean. With options for e-ticking, apps booking, the long queues for purchasing tickets are now things of the past. Now the passengers have the option to order food on the train with travelling. The passengers need not have to alight from the train to get food. The speed of the trains has been increased. To facilitate smooth movement of passengers, especially old and physically-challenged people, the government has installed elevators and escalators on railway stations. So far, 574 escalators and 407 elevators have been provided covering 215 stations and 180 stations respectively.
It’s All About Speed
The government has come up with innovative ways to increase the speed of the train to take the passenger to his destination faster. Recently, to increase the speed of the train a double engine was introduced, ie, engine at the back and front. By this technology also called “Push and Pull” technology, in a trail run travel time in CSMT-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express has been reduced to around 90 minutes. For the first time in the history of Indian Railways a semi high speed train Vande Bharat Express, also known as Train 18 was completely built in India. The Vande Bharat Express can attain a speed of 180 km/h. Apart from the Mumbai–Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor (colloquially known as the Bullet Train project), which is based on Japanese E5 Shinkansen technology and is expected to be completed by December 2023. Once completed, it will cover a distance of 502 kilometers between Mumbai and Ahemdabad in two hours. The government is planning to introduce six more high speed rail corridors – 865 kilometer long Delhi – Noida – Agra – Kanpur – Lucknow – Varanasi corridor, 886 kilometer long Delhi – Jaipur – Udaipur – Ahmedabad corridor, 753 kilometer long Mumbai – Nasik – Nagpur corridor, 711 kilometer long Mumbai – Pune – Hyderabad corridor, 435 kilometer long Chennai – Bangalore – Mysore corridor and 459 kilometer long Delhi – Chandigarh – Ludhiana – Jalandhar – Amritsar corridor.
The government is always on a look out for newer technologies and innovations to reduce the travelling time. Hyperloop is one such technology which is gaining ground in western countries. In Hyperloop technology passengers are transported through sealed tube or system of tubes which is / are free of air resistance or friction. The Government of Maharashtra and Virgin One have signed an agreement to construct ultra-high-speed ground transportation system (Hyperloop) to connect the cities of Mumbai and Pune. Once commissioned, travelling between Mumbai and Pune will be completed in approximately 35 minutes.
Last year, for the first time in the history of India Railways, a private train was flagged off from New Delhi railways station for Lucknow (the Lucknow-New Delhi Tejas Express) operated by private operators IRCTC; followed by Ahmedabad-Mumbai Tejas express this year. Likewise, the Indian Railways has plans to operate 150 more private trains on 100 routes in the first phase to allow private companies into the passenger train segment. Government think-tank Niti Aayog has estimated an investment opportunity of Rs 22,500 crore in this segment. The Indian Railways has received positive response from private players and about 20 companies in infrastructure and transportation sectors, including Bombardier India, Adani Ports, Alstom, Talgo, Macquarie group, Tata Realty, among others, have evinced interest in operating private passenger trains in India.
The government is coming up with innovative solutions to make railways to be environment- friendly. The government has set up automatic coach washing facility which uses lesser water and reduced manpower to clean the exterior of train coaches. To ensure adequate water supply in train and to reduce the filling time of water at filling stations, the railways has set up Quick Watering Facilities currently operational at seven stations (Ajmer, Jaipur, Abu Road, Vijayawada, Villupuram, Erode and Vadodara stations). The Railways has obtained sanction for installing Quick Watering Facilities in 47 stations and for another 66 stations sanction is still awaited.
Sustainability – The way ahead
In the recently concluded Budget 2020-21, the government has proposed setting up solar power capacity alongside rail tracks. More than 8000 railways stations have been fitted with 100 percent LED luminaries. Ninety nine percent of service buildings have been provided with 100 percent LED lights. This has resulted in saving of 240 million units of electricity per annum amounting to Rs.180 crores reduction in annual electricity bill for railways. Indian Railways efforts to draw its electricity requirement solely through solar energy are bearing fruits. Malwal Railway station, Asangaon Railway station and Guwahati Railway station are meeting its power requirement from solar power. The Railways is replacing Rheostatic braking in WAG-7 locomotives with Regenerative braking. This will be lead to saving of around Rs. 24.6 lakhs per loco per year. With a view to transform the Indian Railways into “Green Railways” and to reduce dependency on diesel and coal and to capture the economic benefits of electric traction in an accelerated manner, Indian Railways has planned to electrify its entire route. During the year 2017-18, 4,087 route kilometers of Broad Gauge routes have been electrified. The balance Broad Gauge routes will be fully electrified by 2021-22. This move by the government will not only benefit the exchequer of the Indian railways but will also benefit the environment.
India lives in villages. Around 70 percent of the population depends on agriculture. For them agriculture is the main source of income. Agriculture and allied activities contribute 16-17 percent to GDP. The growth in income for framers is directly related to the growth of the country. The Indian Railways is contributing in the government initiatives to double the farmers’ income. One such initiative being taken up by Railways is setting up of “Kisan Rail” through public private partnership (PPP). The Kisan Rail will have refrigerated coaches for transportation of perishable goods to the main markets. Perishable goods like fruits, vegetables, dairy products, fish, meat will be transported through this refrigerated coaches. In India, close to 40 percent of perishable food is wasted due to unavailability of cold storage facility.
India has a very rich heritage. To explore this very rich heritage, the tourism wing of Indian Railways has introduced trains for passengers interested in pilgrimage and to explore the tourist places in the country. Shri Ramayana Express covers important destinations of the Ramayana circuit such as Nandigram, Sitamarhi, Janakpur, Varanasi, Prayag, Shringverpur, Chitrakoot, Nashik, Hampi, Ayodhya and Rameshwaram. While the Mahaparinirvan Express transit places of Buddhist pilgrimage sites which includes Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Nalanda, Varanasi, Sarnath, Lumbini, Sravasti and Taj Mahal. In addition to these the tourism wing of Indian Railways operates Bharat Darshan train, Aastha Circuit train. The luxury-train service operated by Indian Railways includes Palace on Wheels and Royal Rajasthan on Wheels to promote tourism in Rajasthan; Maharajas' Express covers 12 tourist destinations across northwest and central India; the Deccan Odyssey covers tourist destinations in Maharashtra and Goa and the Golden Chariot connects important tourist spots in Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. The tourism wing also operates the heritage train Fairy Queen, the world's oldest working steam engine driven luxury train from Delhi to Alwar.
Bringing New Delhi closer to North East
Very little is known about the North East states of India. In the past five to six years the government has taken many initiatives to bring the North East states into the mainstream. Not to be left behind in the government’s efforts, the Indian Railways has embarked on a mission to connect important landmark cities with rail networks. The Railways is working at a breakneck speed to connect all the state capitals of the North East - Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. As per Indian Railways’ vision for North East region, all North East state capitals are to be linked with broad gauge rail link by 2020-21. Previously, only Guwahati had broad gauge railway linkage. Further, Arunachal Pradesh & Tripura State capital has been connected. Rail connectivity plays an important role in the development of the region. Taking this into consideration, the government is taking special interest in the development of rail link to North East region. In the last four years 970 km gauge conversion had completed in North East region. As per the data provided by the Indian Railways, 15 new lines projects of 1,397 km length having a total cost of Rs. 47,695 crore are in different stages of planning/sanction/execution which fall partly or fully in the North East states and six doubling projects of 482 km length having a total cost of Rs. 9,305 crore are in different stages of planning/sanction/execution which fall partly or fully in the states of North Eastern Region.
Exclusive Freight Tracks- The Dedicated Freight Corridor
India does not have different tracks for the freight and the passenger trains. Because of demand for both the passenger as well as freight train, railways network is highly congested. As per rule passenger trains are given preference over freight trains. This has affected the speed of both the freight and the passenger trains. The freight train has to maintain an average speed of 24 km per hours. Due to preference for passenger train over freight train, the delivery time of freight by train in unreliable. In 2006 Indian Railways has conceptualized dedicated freight corridors for moving cargos and established Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL), a special purpose vehicle, set up under the administrative control of Ministry of Railways. DFCCIL is developing eastern and western freight corridors with a cumulative length of over 3,000 km. The eastern corridor stretches from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni in West Bengal and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor from Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai (Maharashtra) to Dadri in Uttar Pradesh. The Dedicated Freight Corridor is targeted to be fully commissioned in phases by the year 2021. As per the latest data from the Indian Railways the Bhadan – Khurja section (194 km) of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor has been completed in all respect and trial commercial runs have started and Rewari- Madar section (305 Km) of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor has also been completed in all respect and trial commercial runs have started.
Challenges Ahead
In its path to make a leap in technology and provide better amenities for the passengers the Indian Railways is overcoming various challenges. There are many projects that are stuck due to project-affected people not providing their lands for railway projects. Take the case of government ambitions project the “Bullet Train Project”. The government has been able to acquire only 47 percent of the land required for bullet train project so far. For the Dedicated Freight Corridor project, which has to be fully commissioned by 2021, there are still parcels of lands to be acquired. As on March 2018, total of 98.1 percent of land required for Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors (except for the Sonanagar-Dankuni section) has been acquired. These are examples of just two high profile projects. Likewise, there are many more projects that are struck due to land acquisition. Investment is one core area which Indian Railways has to nurture. As of now, a few of the private players have expressed interest in investing in railway projects. Indian Railways need more investment to execute projects and should come up with tenders that are lucrative for domestic as well as foreign players. With better roads and highways for transporting freight, the share of freight movement by Indian Railways is declining. India Railways has to come up with innovative ways to bring in more freight revenue. Not only freight, India Railways is also losing it AC-class passengers to airlines. The fare of AC-class and airlines ticket being almost same, passengers prefer the comfort of airlines because of faster travel to destination. It has also been noticed that sometimes AC-class passengers tickets in Indian Railways cost more because of ‘Flexi Fare' model introduced by the railways. By this model the base fare of tickets increases with the rising demand. Furthermore, the government initiatives for aviation sector such as UDAN to provide air connectivity to smaller towns and hilly terrains at affordable prices has made a switch to air travel. Indian Railways should come up with innovative ways to increase revenue and pass on the profits to the passenger in form of reduction in ticket prices. Recently, Delhi Metro earned advertisment revenue of Rs. 5 billion with a ridership of 3 million. With a daily ridership of 22 million Railways has far more potential when it comes to generating revenues through advertisements. According to a RITES study only advertisement has revenue potential of Rs. 100 billion. Likewise railways have to explore other sources of revenue which can be passed on to the passengers. Indian Railways has brought in many upgradation in existing facilities for the comfort of the passengers, however, these facilities are misused by the passengers, like breaking the washbasin, taking away the linens, breaking mirrors, tearing up the seat cushions, and other such unlawful activities. Indian Railways need to launch an awareness campaign about proper use of railway belongings. It has been widely reported in newspapers that bureaucracy tussles delayed the launch of Vande Bharat and subsequent manufacturing of this inter-city semi high speed train. Indian Railways have to bring in increase professionalism and accountability to overcome its complex bureaucracy, archaic procedures and inter-departmental rivalries.
The Indian Railways in the last five to six years has been coming up with ideas and innovations that has never happened before, the latest being Project Utkrisht, Mission Raftaar, elimination of unmanned level crossings, use of technology, online monitoring of rolling stock and switch over to LHB coaches for safety of passengers. If we analyse the last five to six years, Indian Railways has overcome its challenges through adoption of technology, innovation and “out of box” ideas and based on it we can expect more innovations from the railways for the benefit of the passengers in the coming years.
