Railway Modernisation, Privatisation at the Cost of Common Commuters, Safety
People’s Commission on Public Sector and Public Services
[The People’s Commission on Public Sector and Public Services (PCPSPS), an advocacy group claiming to be consisting of “eminent academics, jurists, erstwhile administrators, trade unionists and social activists”, in a report has said that the recent multiple train accident near Balasore in Odisha, which resulted in a large number of fatalities and injuries, “is a reminder of the necessity of enhancing the safety of railways in preference to the introduction of high-speed passenger trains.”
Pointing out that the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), parts of which have been published by the media, “does not cover the entire aspects of Railway safety and speed”. The report says, modernisation of Indian Railways (IR) by the introduction of more and more express trains and air-conditioned bogies, even as laying emphasis on Vande Bharat, it is being done “at the cost of the ordinary passengers, who often find themselves packed in over-crowded bogies with little of basic amenities.”]
Full Text of Statement
The recent multiple train accident near Balasore in Odisha, which resulted in a large number of fatalities and injuries, is a reminder of the necessity of enhancing the safety of railways in preference to the introduction of high-speed passenger trains. The Report of the Controller, parts of which is published by the media does not cover the entire aspects of Railway safety and speed.
Role of Railways:
In terms of offering short-distance travel to passengers at affordable rates, generating employment opportunities across the length and breadth of the country, especially to disadvantaged sections and developing backward and remote areas, Railways have historically been among the largest social security providers in the country. In addition, railways provide the lifeline for the economy in moving food grains, fertilizers, coal and other commodities that sustain the economy. In times of emergency, it is the railways that have risen to the occasion and provided logistic support for relief operations. The outstanding performance was seen in Oxygen supply during the pandemic. All this has been possible as a result of railway operations being predominantly in the Government sector.
Present status:
The route mileage of Indian railways has grown very little since 1873 – a century ago – when the present railway network was completed by the British. Since Independence, only another 5,000 km have been added to the 55,000 km that the British left behind. This works out at less than 200 km per year, not much to write about. This is despite the phenomenal increase in both passenger and freight traffic over the same period and the gradual increase in the average speed of train movement.
The average speed of goods trains in Indian Railways is only 25kmph, whereas the average speed of passenger trains is 50 kmph. Even the average speed of the much-trumpeted Vande Bharat trains has rarely exceeded 85 kmph. Recently flagged 5 trains have average speed of only 60 to 65kmph. There may be some sections where a speed of 130 kmph is allowed but it is not without consequences like side-lining of regular trains. The Golden Quadrilateral (Chennai-Mumbai-Delhi-Howrah-Chennai route) constitutes only 20% of the network, where 55% of the traffic moves, leading to congestion. Many sections of this have 130 to 150% occupation, which leaves little time for attending to normal maintenance work, resulting in accidents.
Inadequate amenities for the majority of passengers:
The seating capacity of the railways increased by 113% between 1931 and 2014, while the number of passengers had gone up by 173%. The plight of most passengers who depend on railways has further worsened since then due to the widening gap between the seating capacity and the volume of passenger traffic, especially short-distance passengers. Long-distance passengers constitute a much smaller fraction of the total traffic. About 55% of passengers travel short-distance, about 20km per passenger. The average trip of the remaining 45% of passengers is just over 80km. For improving the comfort of the majority of the passengers, the seating capacity should be increased in the case of short-distance passengers and better amenities need to be created for them at affordable rates.
What is urgently needed:
More than anything else. The ageing track facilities along the entire network of railways need to be upgraded. In addition, augmentation of track capacity in terms of dedicated freight corridors and dedicated express lines is necessary to facilitate accident-free, speedy movement of freight and passenger traffic. Since backward area development is an important responsibility of the railways, investments need to be made in extending railway facilities to such areas.
From the point of minimising specific oil consumption and the consequent levels of pollution in both freight and passenger traffic movement, railways are far more efficient compared to road movement. The balance of advantage therefore lies in re-orienting the national transport policy in favour of railways. From that point of view, it is necessary that adequate investments be made on railways. Investment of one rupee in railways generates 5 rupees in the economy.
In fact, the government in 2019 announced an investment of Rs 50 lakh crore in railways over the next 20 years. Unfortunately, the goalposts and the amount of investment underwent frequent changes suggesting a lack of clarity and vision.
The National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) aimed at an investment of Rs 13.69 lakh crore in four years up to 2023. As no private players came forward to invest in railways, the government proposed to invest 87% of 13.69 lakh crore. Not even 30% of it came through budgetary support. Even before the end of the NIP, the government proposed a National Rail Plan (NRP) for 30 years from 2021 to 2051 with an expected investment of Rs 38.5 lakh crores. There has been no objective appraisal of the plans mooted from time to time and the outcomes.
While such plans were being proposed with varying goalposts, the government suddenly announced a national policy of monetisation of assets, which included railway assets also.
The National Monetisation pipeline (NMP) was expected to mobilise Rs 1.52 lakh crore through the leasing of trains, stations, tracks dedicated for freight corridors, railway lands etc from private agencies to fund the NIP. Asset monetisation implied leasing brownfield assets to private agencies to raise resources for greenfield investments. The NMP failed to take off because of speed constraints arising from infrastructure limitations in respect of running of private trains and other reasons in respect of other assets.
From what appears in the Annual Budgets and the Economic Surveys, it is evident that there has been scant importance to augmenting the infrastructure of the railways. Considering the critical importance of railway movement for freight traffic that sustains economic development, the nation should invest adequately in railway infrastructure.
Safety:
The existing railway track systems are over stressed. Annually, about 4,500 km of track become overaged needing renewal. As of date, there are 10,000 km of track renewal arrears to be attended to, in addition to attending to 4500km of track renewal due for the current year. The backlog of track renewal will increase if there are annual shortfalls.
Every year, the signalling gears and associated facilities in 200 stations need renewal, whereas, the signal gear in only 100 stations is being renewed at present. As a result, there are large number of stations awaiting signal gear renewal.
One of the major links in railway safety is the ageing bridges constructed decades ago, which need strengthening.
A plan with an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore was proposed in the name of the National Rail Safety Fund (NSF) to invest Rs 20,000 crore every year from 2017 onwards for the track renewal, the upgradation of signal gear, bridges and other crucial items of infrastructure. In the absence of sufficient generation of surplus resources within railways and inadequate budgetary support, the NSF failed to take off as expected, leading to serious deficiencies in terms of safety.
Railways are over-stretched:
As railways have not been able to invest adequately in the augmentation of the capacity of infrastructure facilities and in view of the priority given to speed over safety and ignoring the needs of the majority of passengers who travel largely in passenger trains and in unreserved compartments of express trains. The local passenger trains are being replaced by express trains, super-fast trains such as Vande Bharats and more and more air-conditioned bogies for which the fares are far too high for ordinary passengers to be able to bear. Though the introduction of express trains and the introduction of air-conditioned bogies have improved amenities for some passengers, it has been at the cost of the ordinary passengers who often find themselves packed in over-crowded bogies with little of basic amenities.
Privatisation would accentuate these problems further as private companies driven by the profit motive would increase the charges that ordinary passengers can ill afford. This has been witnessed in a few Private trains which have been introduced and stopped.
Employment opportunities:
As already stated, the railways provide employment opportunities for lakhs of persons from disadvantaged sections. Reservations for the SCs/STs/OBCs in railways empower those sections immensely. However, the manner in which the government has evolved policies and operated the railways has progressively eroded the railways’ role in this respect.
The strength of railways which was 16.54 lakhs in 1990 has come down to 12.12 lakhs, implying a reduction of 4.42 lakhs. At present, there are 3.12 lakh vacancies in the sanctioned strength of the railways, according to information made available in the parliament, 3.12 lakh posts in the Railways are lying vacant as of June 2023 with more than 2.67 lakh of them in the safety category More importantly, the strength of the track maintaining staff has halved from 4 lakhs to 2 lakhs. There are at present 87000 vacancies in trackmen, 62,000 in operating staff, 9,000 driver vacancies, 34,000 vacancies in the electrical staff, 64000 mechanical staff and 14815 signal staff. All those vacancies have a direct bearing on safety, apart from doing injustice to the SCS/STs/OBCs. Outsourcing of work to private agencies has diluted accountability and affected the safety of railways.
What next?
Keeping the above in view, the Commission makes the following recommendations:
- We record our appreciation to IR for raising to the occasion during Covid times by running freight trains uninterruptedly to supply essentials to every corner of the country. It is also necessary to appreciate running of oxygen expresses making all-out effort to meet the peoples’ needs during the need of the hour. It was not without consequences to the workers and officers who were engaged in the task when thousands lost their lives due to Covid and more than a lack of workers infected with Covid. This was possible only because IR is in the Government sector which emphasizes the need for continuance of IR in the Government sector.
- The primary role of the railways should continue to be its role as a social security provider, which under no circumstances should be diluted. Instead of its slant in favour of improving amenities for the elite among passengers, the focus should shift towards increasing the number of trains, seating capacity, amenities and comfort for ordinary passengers, many travelling over short distances, who cannot afford to pay high railway fares.
- Senior citizen concession should be restored.
- Number of unreserved General second-class coaches should be increased.
- Instead of shifting the goalposts of planning with empty mega announcements without matching real implementation the government should put in place a medium-term and a long-term plan for investments to be made to augment track capacity and critical infrastructure facilities required for ensuring decongestion and 100% safety. There should be no compromise on this. It should be ensured that Central Government invests 100% without telling that the private will invest, as no Private Service Provider has come for investment in the past in rail infrastructure. Besides one rupee invested in railways generates 5 rupee in the economy. Since the country cannot afford the recurrence of an accident like the one that took place recently in Odisha, no new express trains should be introduced before ensuring safety in all respects. It is of paramount importance to augment track capacity along congested sections on the Golden Quadrilateral and other segments before indiscriminately rushing into the introduction of express trains, especially Vande Bharats. The Commission in particular wishes utmost caution to be exercised by the government in introducing more than a hundred Vande Bharats as reported, as the country cannot afford to relegate safety to speed.
- The average speed of freight-carrying rakes is abysmally low as pointed out above. Railways and the nation can derive maximum economic returns by augmenting infrastructure facilities to enhance the average speed of freight-carrying goods trains.
- The anti-collision device Kavach should be installed in all engines and all routes
- All 3.12 lakh vacancies and arising vacancies including in safety categories should be filled in a mission mode with a special drive instead of telling the parrot-like repetition of ‘filling up of vacancies is a continuing process.’ Outsourcing of activities should be rescinded, and as there are 7 lakh contract workers in IR, same number of regular posts should be created and filled with trained skilled staff in the interest of the safety of Railways which will provide for social justice through reservation of posts for SC/ST OBCs. These efforts will help in a way to reduce unemployment of youth in the country.
(Statement courtesy: Counterview, a newsblog that publishes news and views based on information obtained from alternative sources, which may or may not be available in public domain, allowing readers to make independent conclusions.)
Modi Government Wants Trains That Run Faster Than a Bullet, But Can Railway Infrastructure Keep Up?
Sarah Thanawala
On May 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Vande Bharat train route from Dehradun to Delhi via video conferencing.
According to the press release for the event, the express train, which covers 302 kilometres in just four hours and 45 minutes, “will herald a new era of comfortable travel experience, especially for tourists travelling to the state”.
The press release also stated that the train has advanced safety features, including the ‘Kavach’ technology.
(Kavach is an automatic train protection electronic system by Research Designs and Standards Operation (RDSO) that helps prevent trains from jumping red signals and avoiding collision by automatically activating the train’s braking system if the driver fails to control the train’s speed.)
On May 15, while launching a few railway projects in Odisha, Modi remarked, “India’s speed and progress can be seen whenever a Vande Bharat train runs from one place to another.”
Modi said the Vande Bharat Express trains are “becoming the engine for development for the country” while also strengthening “the spiritual and cultural connection” between places, in that particular instance “between Puri and Howrah”.
In his Independence day address in 2021, Modi had promised that 75 Vande Bharat trains would be introduced by the end of 2023. The 2022 Union budget laid out a grand plan of introducing 400 semi-high-speed, next-generation Vande Bharat trains in the next three years.
The first high-speed rail corridor, with a maximum operational speed of 320 kilometres per hour (kmph), to execute the bullet train project in the country is set to be built between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
These are just a few recent examples to demonstrate how much the current regime, which is completing a decade in power soon, looks favourably towards fast trains.
There could be many reasons for the preference of the Modi government for fast trains. They help project that India has finally ‘arrived’ at the world stage and can compete with the speed and efficiency of a bullet train-touting Japan and the smooth speed of trains in industrialised Western countries.
This projection is as much for the domestic audience as for the diaspora and the international audience. For example, while addressing a gathering of the Indian diaspora in Oman in 2018, Modi claimed that bullet trains will be a reality in India by 2022. “In new India, we no longer procrastinate,” he said on the occasion.
Domestically, they cater to the influential new middle class that likes things to move fast and decisively.
The question remains, is the Indian railway infrastructure capable of meeting these high expectations? Is the country doing enough to build its capacity, both in terms of infrastructure and human resources, to ensure that this transition to faster trains is smooth and workable?
What about issues of equity? Are slower trains that cater to the vast majority of travellers in India getting their equal share of the tracks or are they in for a rough ride? What about the people living along the tracks? Are their needs to move freely in their localities getting sidetracked by the desire for the fast and furious trains?
Railway infrastructure
According to the Press Information Bureau, in March 2022, the Indian Railways prepared the ‘National Rail Plan for India 2030’ to create capacity ahead of demand until 2050. Further, 58 super-critical projects of a total length of 3,750 km costing ₹39,663 crore and 68 critical projects of a total length of 6,913 km costing ₹75,736 crore have been identified for completion by 2024.
However, the Peoples’ Commission on Public Sector and Public Services (PCPSPS), through its statement on the Balasore train accident in Odisha, has raised concerns about the critical levels of congestion on around 10,000 kilometres of trunk routes.
The PCPSPS says that according to the data in the National Rail Plan 2030, railway routes in India are carrying 125 to 150 percent of the capacity against the desirable 70 to 90 percent capacity utilisation.
In February 2021, a report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways pointed out that during 2018–19, only 470 km of railway network was constructed, while the target was 1,000 km.
According to the railway ministry, the factors that cause delays in commissioning new railway lines include resistance to land acquisition by state governments under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013; obstruction in forest clearance by officials of the forest department; time-consuming statutory clearances from various authorities for shifting of infringing utilities, that is, relocating unauthorised objects on the railway premises or tracks; and unforeseen conditions, including earthquakes, flooding, excessive rains, labour strikes and directions of courts.
According to a report on the maintenance of bridges in Indian railways by a Parliamentary standing committee, 37,689 bridges on the railway network are 100 years-old or older and were planned for lesser traffic and easier service conditions. With the total number at 147,253, one out of four railway bridges is “century-old”.
The Parliamentary committee also pointed out that the safety of these old bridges may be severely compromised due to the running of faster and heavier trains.
Manickaraj, a former station master who managed tracks and handled interlocking operations, spoke with The Leaflet and explained that line capacity, that is, the number of trains that can run on a section in 24 hours, limits train operations.
He stressed that operating trains in excess of line capacity can cause the signal equipment to fail and reduce the speed of the trains, affecting the free flow of traffic. Running heavy-loaded goods trains frequently without laying heavy-strength railway tracks will likely cause more damage, he stated.
Infrastructure for fast trains
In October 2020, the Railway Board, a Union government body responsible for implementing policies and ensuring the smooth functioning of the Indian railways, approved the conversion from passenger trains to express and mail trains of 362 passenger trains by reducing the number of halts and to increase their speeding capacity.
An apprehension was raised that such a conversion could hit the marginal class who prefer passenger trains for their daily commute. One-third of the workers in India are employed in the service industry which contributes two-thirds of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
A majority of these workers are marginal earners and cannot afford a personal vehicle to commute from one place to another for work. Reduction in the number of passenger trains or even reducing the number of halt stations would make their commutes more difficult, reducing their earning capacity.
Vande Bharat trains were introduced in February 2019, and are currently running on 23 routes. A Vande Bharat train can run at a speed of upto180 kmph, but most of the existing railway tracks are not capable of supporting trains running at more than 160 kmph, thus reducing the maximum speed of Vande Bharat trains to 160 kmph.
There are concerns about the percentage of population that will be able to afford to travel in high-speed trains, given their typically higher fares. Trains like Vande Bharat are air-conditioned and have chair-car services, thus reducing the seating capacity and increasing ticket prices.
Then there is the issue of sidelining of short-distance trains. As per a report, in 2017, while the railway ministry planned to increase the speed of 600 trains, the same exercise was set to decrease the speed of 250 other trains.
Railway officials stated that the speeding of the trains at the cost of slowing down other trains was an “optimising exercise” that was “unavoidable” to “maintain the superfast character of some trains”.
However, as one expert pointed out, while the news of the trains getting faster was widely publicised, the information about slowing-down other trains was not circulated at all. The expert called it a typical example of “lack of transparency” in the Indian railways.
According to another article, experts emphasise that the upgradation of tracks and other railway infrastructure is not likely to keep up with the speed of the Vande Bharat trains.
In the context of the first high-speed rail corridor, with a maximum operational speed of 320 kmph being executed for the bullet train project, an article by a retired official of the Indian Railway Service of Engineers argues that bullet trains are unsuitable for India.
The official also writes that the bullet train project is a massively expensive project involving public funds, which can be put to use in building health infrastructure and targeting other social needs such as poverty alleviation and education.
According to the article, the budget allocated for bullet trains can be channelised to upgrade the entire 20,000 km network of trunk routes to run high-speed trains on existing conventional lines, as well as building about 10,000 km of new double line routes to optimise the speed of trains by segregating faster trains from the slower ones.
In February 2022, during the introduction of two additional railway lines in the Mumbai Metropolitan Area, Prime Minister Modi himself had emphasised prioritising strengthening infrastructural capacity as “the need of the hour”.
Lack of staff and other safety concerns
Highlighting the need for the railways to have dedicated staff for the inspection and maintenance of bridges, a Parliamentary standing committee had raised concerns about a 40 percent vacancy of staff for this category, writing, “Against a sanctioned strength of 7,669 the actual strength is 4,517.”
Manickaraj stated that contractors, rather than full-time staff, are engaged in the maintenance of coaches and wagons as well as tracks and signals. They use untrained and unqualified personnel in these important departments.
He further explained that due to the hiring of ad hoc contractors, the only remedy available to officials against shoddy work or unsatisfactory performance, or in case a fault accrues, is cancellation of contracts, leading to a lack of accountability as there is no one who can be held responsible for lapses in safety.
A statement issued by the PCPSPS points to a report by technical experts on the issue of ensuring safety in railways. The statement highlights that in 2012, the report of the ‘high level safety review committee’, under the chairmanship of Dr Anil Kakodkar, had made certain recommendations on railway safety, including setting up an independent statutory railway safety authority, strengthening the RDSO, and adopting an advanced signalling system (Kavach system) for the entire trunk route length of 19,000 km within five years.
It has been a decade since the report was passed with recommendations, but the ministry has failed to implement the recommendations, the PCPSPS statement adds.
According to Manickaraj, the electronic interlocking system that is presently used in railway stations across the country is not suitable for the weather conditions prevalent in the Indian subcontinent.
He further explained that faults that cause accidents can occur due to the lack of maintenance by three technical departments— the department maintaining points and crossings; the signal and telecommunication department for signal equipment maintenance; and the mechanical department for maintenance of train engines, passenger bogies and goods wagons.
Manickaraj opined that the interference of miscreants or livestock is likely to affect the signalling system in railways. Train services are known to get repeatedly affected due to cattle crossing and lack of boundary walls on the sides of the tracks.
In 2022, reportedly, the railway ministry expressed its plan to fence tracks to prevent cattle run-over cases and consequential cattle deaths as well as damage to the high-speed trains.
Rights of residents
There are also concerns about railway tracks passing through villages causing hardships to people, including school students, in their day-to-day activities. In April 2018, the construction work Haridaspur–Paradip railway project was halted as hundreds of residents of three villages agitated against the new railway line being built through the agricultural fields, preventing them from carrying out farm work and grazing cattle.
In February this year, protests ensued against the construction of a 260-metre-long service line by the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited, to lay a double track of the Hospet Vasco-da-gama railway line in Velsao village of South Goa. The protestors alleged that authorities had broken a private compound wall built by residents.
According to a report, data from the Ministry of Railways presented in the Lok Sabha said that elephant deaths on tracks have nearly doubled from 10 to 19 between 2019 and 2021. The deaths of other wild animals increased 1.5 times— from 44 in 2019 to 69 in 2021.
Fencing will not solve these problems as land masses will be divided and made impossible to cross for man and animal alike.
What next?
On June 2, more than 260 persons died and thousands were injured in the Odisha railway accident where three trains collided in the Balasore district. The accident occurred when the Yesvantpur–Howrah Express entered Bahanaga Bazar railway station in northeast Odisha, and seconds later, the Shalimar–Chennai Coromandel Express entered the passing loop instead of the main line near the same railway station and collided with a stationary goods train.
Considered one of the deadliest railway accidents in India, the crash has raised several safety concerns, as well as doubts about the adequacy of railway infrastructure in India.
Although there has been a decrease in railway accidents in India, the lack of focus on infrastructure and neglect of safety measures raises the bigger concern of exhausting the capacity to meet future needs.
In their rush to have faster and faster trains, will the authorities in India be able to pay heed to the unglamorous, tedious and long grind of infrastructure and policy development?
(Sarah Thanawala is a staff writer at The Leaflet. Courtesy: The Leaflet, an independent platform for cutting-edge, progressive, legal & political opinion, founded by Indira Jaising and Anand Grover.)
