Railway stations to get a face lift..
Indian railways have decided to put up 22 of its railway stations up for a face lifting job before their possible public listing (IPO) announcement. Alright, I am cooking up the last part but who knows? In typical Lalu's tone, "Laloo hain bhaiya, agar maatha ghum gaya toh? (He is Lalu and nobody knows what will be his next move). Several railway ministers came and went but Lalu can claim that he is the only one to have heard the railways singing "Mujhko bhi toh lift kara de".
Everybody would like to believe that Indian Railways is on the right tracks but well, I can bet my ten bucks that these people must be taking flights themselves. If they have then I will bet another ten bucks that their houses must be full of cockroaches. These cockroaches thrives in the air-conditioned compartments of most of the trains. Well, they must be really lucky or what else could explain their survival on pantry car's food (oh! I just forgot that Cockroach can survive anything even in the absence of food and water). Anyways they are lucky that they travel free and are expanding their empire from one corner of India to another corner.
Even if you forget about the cockroaches for a while and try to enjoy the ride, it becomes boring after a while. The same hawkers going around selling the same things (this is not valid for the Rajdhanis or Shatabdis but they do have cockraoches) and the same people around with the same problem that "trains are too slow and the journey becomes too long". Even a journey of 300 kilometers might take upto 6-9 hours. Ab 200 miles ke liye koi flight leta hai kya? Check in 1-2 hours in advance, driving out of city may take 1-2 hours, 2 hour in flight cursing why it's not taking off, 30 minutes in baggage claims and then again 1 hour of driving in the city makes it look like more or less the same. On top of that pay around Rs 2000 as taxes plus the airfare. Low cost is no more low cost. Yeah they are low in comparison to each other (relatively lower) but exorbitantly high when compared to Bhartiya rail.
So the government has protected railways from the competition by increasing the fuel surcharge and other taxes on the airlines. Clear indication that government don't want anybody to save time. Lalu's explanation is pretty simple "Our people don't have money but they have lots of time, so they want a cheap transportation mode" (the other reason is that if people will have extra time then they will start watching cricket again and Sharad Powar's weight in the coalition will increase). I know I am again cooking it up. But well, the fact of the matter is that though it has turned around, railway still continues to haunt many people like me. They are too slow, continue to remain filthy and have not been able to keep pace with growth of demand.
Now, the recent move to offer the 22 railway stations for a face lift is really a welcome move. It will surely push the prices forward but then the cross subsidy method where the AC fare subsidizes the non-AC fare will keep things in control. I have been to most of these 22 stations and I can say that without any exception they all are filthy and poorly maintained. Security is inadequate (I haven't ever seen the metal detectors working and what else people can sneak through the sides) and during the peak hours it just looks like another crowded street of Delhi (minus the cows and bulls). Out of these 22, Gaya to be mentioned specifically. It's the gateway to famous tourist attraction Bodh Gaya and perhaps your first tryst with this railway station will paint you the real picture of Hungry India Poor India (HI-PI).
Corporates like Reliance, TATA and DLF are bidding for the contract but it is still to be seen that who gets it (I personally want to see who will be interested in bidding for small towns). Railways contracts have a notorious legacy behind them and no doubt political parties are so interested in fighting for the railway ministry.
Anyways, let's hope that the Professor G Raghuraman of IIM A who advocates a public private partnership knock some sense into the think tank of railway. Well, wherever there is money, there comes a will (no it's not Bill Gates, comeon! he has sobered up a lot lately). So what next? An IPO, who knows? May be*.. Why not?
*I am hypothesizing purely
Everybody would like to believe that Indian Railways is on the right tracks but well, I can bet my ten bucks that these people must be taking flights themselves. If they have then I will bet another ten bucks that their houses must be full of cockroaches. These cockroaches thrives in the air-conditioned compartments of most of the trains. Well, they must be really lucky or what else could explain their survival on pantry car's food (oh! I just forgot that Cockroach can survive anything even in the absence of food and water). Anyways they are lucky that they travel free and are expanding their empire from one corner of India to another corner.
Even if you forget about the cockroaches for a while and try to enjoy the ride, it becomes boring after a while. The same hawkers going around selling the same things (this is not valid for the Rajdhanis or Shatabdis but they do have cockraoches) and the same people around with the same problem that "trains are too slow and the journey becomes too long". Even a journey of 300 kilometers might take upto 6-9 hours. Ab 200 miles ke liye koi flight leta hai kya? Check in 1-2 hours in advance, driving out of city may take 1-2 hours, 2 hour in flight cursing why it's not taking off, 30 minutes in baggage claims and then again 1 hour of driving in the city makes it look like more or less the same. On top of that pay around Rs 2000 as taxes plus the airfare. Low cost is no more low cost. Yeah they are low in comparison to each other (relatively lower) but exorbitantly high when compared to Bhartiya rail.
So the government has protected railways from the competition by increasing the fuel surcharge and other taxes on the airlines. Clear indication that government don't want anybody to save time. Lalu's explanation is pretty simple "Our people don't have money but they have lots of time, so they want a cheap transportation mode" (the other reason is that if people will have extra time then they will start watching cricket again and Sharad Powar's weight in the coalition will increase). I know I am again cooking it up. But well, the fact of the matter is that though it has turned around, railway still continues to haunt many people like me. They are too slow, continue to remain filthy and have not been able to keep pace with growth of demand.
Now, the recent move to offer the 22 railway stations for a face lift is really a welcome move. It will surely push the prices forward but then the cross subsidy method where the AC fare subsidizes the non-AC fare will keep things in control. I have been to most of these 22 stations and I can say that without any exception they all are filthy and poorly maintained. Security is inadequate (I haven't ever seen the metal detectors working and what else people can sneak through the sides) and during the peak hours it just looks like another crowded street of Delhi (minus the cows and bulls). Out of these 22, Gaya to be mentioned specifically. It's the gateway to famous tourist attraction Bodh Gaya and perhaps your first tryst with this railway station will paint you the real picture of Hungry India Poor India (HI-PI).
Corporates like Reliance, TATA and DLF are bidding for the contract but it is still to be seen that who gets it (I personally want to see who will be interested in bidding for small towns). Railways contracts have a notorious legacy behind them and no doubt political parties are so interested in fighting for the railway ministry.
Anyways, let's hope that the Professor G Raghuraman of IIM A who advocates a public private partnership knock some sense into the think tank of railway. Well, wherever there is money, there comes a will (no it's not Bill Gates, comeon! he has sobered up a lot lately). So what next? An IPO, who knows? May be*.. Why not?
*I am hypothesizing purely
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