The great Indian Railway story: This jumbo can tango

G Raghuram

I have been observing the Indian Railways (IR) for over three decades now, but the initiatives of the Railway ministry in the past two years have been of particular interest.
In 2001, this behemoth was on the verge of collapse.

The main problem was that the decision-making process at the top management level was not in line with efficient utilisation of costs. It resulted in insufficient returns and financial productivity was extremely low.

But 2004 saw the dawn of a new set of initiatives, led by Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. Gradually, the organisation’s operational and projected finances began to look impressive, and I started studying the movements in the IR closely.

It became apparent that Lalu’s initiatives were making a difference. He started 24-hour loading-unloading of goods wagons, legalised hitherto illegal ‘extra loading’ of wagons, and introduced competitive bidding for movement of goods in containers.

As the IR understood that demand will fluctuate according to changes in price, it stopped taking its clientele for granted and imbibed better customer orientation, especially in its freight traffic services. 

I feel that bringing in kulhads (earthen cups for tea) was a populist move, which attracted more flak than appreciation, but Lalu was not deterred. It illustrates what defined the turnaround — determination to implement despite criticism.

The biggest hurdle for the IR all these years was not the lack of innovative ideas, but the lack of willingness to implement them. When Lalu took over, he was in a political hole.

The Railway ministry seemed like the last opportunity for him to retain his popularity. Driven by a keen understanding of the problems at the grassroots level, the rustic leader was also a clear thinker, knew how to use his political clout, and was motivated enough to take risks.

But the overall success cannot be credited to Lalu alone. He was influenced by his team, and convinced by numerous officers over a long period of time. But a special mention needs to be made of officer on special duty to the Railway minister, Sudhir Kumar (IAS).

Kumar had a sound understanding of the Railways’ operations. He recognised the minister’s ambitions and translated them into opportunities by giving the minister productive ideas.

Even today, the IR has more challenges than it can handle. Given the rapidly changing environment, the IR needs to learn to respond to change swiftly. I feel sustainability is a question mark.

Safety is still the biggest challenge that the IR needs to address. Optimisation of track utilisation is also required. Signals could be moved from tracks to locomotives.

The greatest opportunity for the IR today is ports. As much as 25 per cent of the IR’s total traffic comes from ports, and it should improve port connectivity by acquiring advance information systems for handling port traffic, and invite public-private partnership for key port areas.

The IR can function as an umbrella, promoting private stake in appropriate areas. That’s the way to growth. It should start niche services like luxury trains, which would be good revenue generators. Speed being a requirement, the IR needs to streamline traffic movement, and introduce  flyovers or a bypass when two tracks merge.

With an ambitious railway minister at the helm, and a slew of bold initiatives, the mammoth has saved itself from extinction, for now. But the giant needs to become nimble to be able to sustain the turnaround.

The writer is professor, public systems group, IIM, Ahmedabad. He was a member of the Rakesh Mohan Experts’ Committee on Indian Railways, 2001. He spoke to Jumana Shah