A Train to Nowhere

The railway budgets have been pushed out of the media limelight, and their numbers shielded from a closer scrutiny, after their co-option in the union government budgets. However, the crucial role of the railways in the nation’s infrastructure and its significant share of the freight and passenger traffic necessitate that the performance of the railways be evaluated carefully. This is more so because the government has now significantly stepped up investments in the railways, making it a showcase for the introduction of new technologies and its modernisation drive.

A cursory analysis of the railway budget, however, shows that despite some gains in freight carriage, the passenger services of the transporter have suffered a major setback. There is a huge shortfall in the passenger traffic which is a major concern especially because it is the ordinary economy-class travel segment that is the most affected even while the upper-end business-class travel segments show a sharp acceleration. These trends in the passenger traffic of the railways put a big question mark on the recent policies and their performances.