The last 10 years have seen a remarkable disinterest in running and maintaining transport for the poor. Even in all the cacophony around development, the sounds and sights of the poor trying to catch buses and trains are buried in the background.
Photo: Snowscat/Unsplash
The noise around âVande Bharatâ trains has drowned the slow destruction of our railways. A similar thing is happening to all modes of transport for the poor. You canât escape the overcrowded railway stations, bus stops and airports where people are really struggling to get from one place to another.
On the one hand, we are dreaming of running more bullet trains than China, but on the other, even Ambani and Adani are apparently forced to send tempos? Such is the pathetic condition of transportation in the country.
Like the brother in Deewar would say, âToday we have trains, buses, planes, cruise ships, what not?â The answer to that dialogue is, âNo seats for the poor.â
The last 10 years have seen a remarkable disinterest in running and maintaining transport services for the poor. Even in all the cacophony around development, the sounds and sights of the poor trying to catch buses and trains are buried in the background.
The competition seems to be with China, where an average bullet train runs at a speed of 245.5 kmph while the Vande Bharatâs maximum speed is 130 kmph, and it actually runs at about 83 kmph.
Local passenger trains are slowly disappearing and costly express trains are coming in their place. The Railways has quietly increased the number of AC coaches while reducing the number of sleeper coaches.
Recently a journalist, travelling in the Shalimar Express from Thiruvananthapuram to Kolkata, called it âthe slave expressâ. Why? Because the people were stuffed together in inhuman conditions, reminding him of slave transportation. The working class spread over the country has really no option but to be stuffed with their goods in trains to go back to their homes. Forget about the comforts of travel, they are forced to forgo their human dignity and even travel in the toilets of the trains. Today, even if Raj from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge manages to get Simran on the train, he canât get her a seat.
Railway profitability has reduced by 7.8% in the Modi era. Railways had a revenue loss of Rs.15,024.58 crore in the financial year 2021-22.
Senior citizen concessions were stopped during the Covid pandemic, and havenât been restored, as the government earned Rs 5,800 crore in the last four years by stopping it.
With the arrival of new AC coaches, the prices of tickets have gone up significantly, but the same cannot be said about the speed or comfort of the train. Getting tatkal tickets is becoming a game of chance. Premier tatkal has taken rail travel to literally new heights â competing with the cost of flight tickets.
Railway safety
The safety of trains isnât assured, either. It was just last year when we saw one of the most gruesome accidents in decades in Balasore, where 300 people were killed and over a thousand were injured.
Railway safety is a serious issue today, which is sadly recalled only during such accidents. Do you know the reason for most accidents is derailment? Still, the railway has a track renewal backlog of 10,000 kilometres. The much touted âKawach systemâ is absent from 98% of the rail network.
A CAG report revealed last year how the fund meant for railway safety was used in foot massagers, crockery, electrical appliances, furniture, winter jackets, computers and escalators, developing gardens, building toilets, paying salaries and bonuses and erecting a flag!
So who is benefitting?
The good news is at least the speed of goods trains is increasing. Bad news â this was done by changing the calculating method, excluding significant delaysfrom the calculations. From 27.2 kmph in 2010-11, the freight train speeds had actually declined to 24.4 kmph in 2019-20 before the controversial method kicked in.
This article was originally published in The Wire and can be read here.
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