INDIAN RAILWAYS -- RUNNING LATE FOR 2047 ?

 I've said it before and I'll say it again for the doubtful benefit of this hearing impaired government- putting old wine in new bottles doesn't change the wine for the better. A prime example of this is the Indian Railways, their slew of hyped up new trains- Vande Bharat, Tejas, Namo Bharat, etc.- and the claim that it has transformed the way Indians travel. It hasn't, it's just made it more expensive.

Last month I had to go to my hometown, Kanpur, to revitalise my withering roots and decided to travel by the Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat, touted as the last word in luxury, speed and punctuality (my first time on a VB). It was none of these. The fallacy started unravelling at Platform 16 of the New Delhi Station itself, where I arrived at 2.30 PM (departure time was 3.00 PM). The train arrived two hours late and left two and a half hours late-at 5.20 PM. So much for punctuality. Worse, there was no sharing of information with the hundreds of waiting passengers- merely a bored announcement every now and then that the train "is delayed by 15 minutes." (It was always 15 minutes, not a minute less or a minute more).This announcement of delays by instalments (on the airlines pattern) is inexplicable in this age of real time information when a train's actual location can be tracked minute by minute. Why not share it with the passengers who had trusted your bloated hype? And isn't it ironical that the Railway Minister is also the IT Minister but the Railways don't know where their train is at any given moment?

The stranded passengers were treated like dirt (again, on the airlines model) in other ways too. They had to stand on their feet for two hours- there were barely half a dozen dirty benches on the platform for more than a thousand; if there were old, or sick or disabled, that was just too bad, they were collateral damage on the country's journey to vishwaguru status. The platform, where India's most (allegedly) magnificent train was to arrive, resembled a Sadar Bazaar trading yard. Every now and then a cop would come and shoo them away for causing overcrowding!- where were they supposed to go?

[Passengers at NDRS waiting for the Vande Bharat doors to open. The similarity to a cattle yard is coincidental. Photo by Atul Shukla]

It was no better inside the train (when it finally arrived): the entrance foyer was jammed with all kinds of food cartons, garbage bags and crates of bottled water. The toilets were awash like Niagra Falls. The meals showed the effects of privatisation at its worst- packets of "chura" of unknown origin, a soft drink, something which was said to be tea and a moldy piece of cake; we added up their printed MRPs, which came to Rs. 50/, though IRCTC must have got them at least at 25% less through the lowest tender process. The passengers, however, paid Rs. 80/ each- another proof of how rapidly the railways are moving on to the airline model. The train's maximum speed (displayed on an LED screen above the doors) never exceeded 128 kmph, and that too for very short periods, so much for its high-speed boast of 180 kmph.

The worst, however was to come on the return trip when we disgorged from the train at the New Delhi Railway station at 11.00 PM. Complete pandemonium prevailed on the Ajmeri Gate side exit- no proper lanes for cars, no separate lanes for taxis, no identified points for boarding or deboarding: these are all standard requirements/facilities at any railway station in any developed country. The result was total chaos- hundred of passengers rushing around, blocking traffic, to find their ordered Olas and Ubers, vehicles parked any which way. It took us more than 45 minutes (one fifth the journey time from Kanpur on the train!) to locate our Ola and exit the station. I shudder to think what would have been the fate of the old, the disabled, ladies travelling alone and foreign tourists unaccustomed to our bureaucracy who had swallowed the fable of "Athiti Deva Bhav." I longed wistfully for the Shatabdi days, when one just went to the pre-paid taxi/ auto rickshaw booths managed by police, paid the fare, and were allotted a taxi/auto without any fuss or the danger of being run over.

So here's the low-down. Today's trumpeted trains are no better-probably worse- than our earlier Shatabdis and Rajdhanis which made no tall claims but delivered more than they promised. All this hype of high-speed trains is just that- false hype. We may have the technical capacity to build such trains, but we lack the administrative and policy-making ability to operate them as they should. Reasons?- lack of infrastructure: tracks, signaling and communication systems, skilling of staff, catering, station management, accountability. The Railways' planning model is faulty and has been stood on its head: instead of planning from the top down it should be doing the reverse- upgrade the infrastructure to developed countries level first and THEN introduce the high speed trains.

Most important- treat your paying passenger with respect and consideration. Travel is not just about speed, it's a package of various experiences. The Railway's responsibility does not end on the platform- it has to develop proper station infrastructure, both inside and outside, ensure systems that enable a passenger to enter and exit a station in an orderly manner, with convenience and safety. Dial down the hype and dial up the delivery. It's a long, long way to 2047, Mr. Minister, a much more difficult journey than the three-piece suit hop to Davos.