Budget 2024: Railways ignoring 'ordinary' passengers

Gaurav Gogoi, deputy leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, claimed on Monday, 22 July, that the focus of the Indian Railways had shifted from ordinary passengers to the elite travelling in AC coaches, paying a much higher fare.

Although 90 per cent of the population depends on the Indian Railways and travels in general and unreserved compartments, the budgetary and operational focus seems to be on the 10 per cent of the elite.

The result?

Figures released by the government itself, Gogoi pointed out, show that the number of ordinary people travelling in passenger trains and general, non-airconditioned compartments has fallen sharply during the last 10 years.

Yet, budgetary support to the Railways has increased significantly during this period. It is not a case of competing priorities, then — just that much of the expenditure is directed towards the bullet train project, the Vande Bharat trains and the two dedicated freight corridors.

“Isn't it surprising that in the past 10 years, the [government] hasn't added even a single kilometre of new line to India's trunk routes?” Alok Verma, a former railway engineer, closely involved in the development and modernisation of Indian Railways, tweeted this week. For good measure, he added:

There is acute overcrowding in trains — because in truth, very few trains have been added during this period. The number of passenger trains has, in fact, gone down. More trains could not be added because of capacity constraints resulting in poor punctuality, maintenance and safety, as the trunk routes are choked, points out Verma, who is passionate about the railways.

Seats and sleepers are hard to secure in general compartments. In large parts of eastern and northern India, railway travel has become a nightmare.

A staggering 3,000-plus passenger trains that are apparently no longer operational were running as recently 2012–13, estimates claim. What changed so drastically in the last 10 years to explain this cutback?

We don't really know.

What we do know: Over 200 mail and express trains, over 2,500 ordinary passenger trains and over 450 EMU trains have stopped running over the last decade, leading to further overcrowding, long delays and a proliferation of touts.

The ICRTC online reservation website has become less user-friendly, not more. A special drive by the Indian Railways last year trapped over 1,000 touts and identified as many as 40 illegal apps operating only to hoodwink gullible passengers.

The largely invisible 'makeover' of the Indian Railways, mostly at the cost of the middle and lower socio-economic classes — the bulk of the passengers — appears suspiciously tailored for the eventual privatisation of the system.

The fractured electoral verdict for the Lok Sabha may have pushed back this eventuality of a privatised Indian Railways, at least for the time being — but the wheels have already been set in motion. That much is apparent.

It began with the decision in 2017 to do away with a separate Railway Budget, obfuscating the steps and structures. Eight years after that decision was taken, it is clear that the ordinary passenger’s need for faster, safer, convenient and affordable railway journeys is no longer met by the Indian Railways — and are not a priority for it either.

Attempts to raise the average speed of the trains (Mission Raftar, 2017–22) failed. Even the newest Vande Bharat trains don't significantly reduce the journey time.

Moreover, the Railways is losing market share to road and air transport — even though only a tiny minority of Indians can afford to fly or own cars.

That is the reason why Parliament should be discussing the performance and priorities of the Railways with far more vigour. It is now almost impossible, however, to do so — because the railway budget (together with all discussion around it) has been subsumed into the general budget.

A foolish decision, quipped ‘Metro Man’ E. Sreedharan, who held that merging the Railway Budget into the general Union budget was not in the nation's best interests. Had he been consulted, he would have advised against it, he said. 

The decision was a blunder, agreed former union minister Veerappa Moily after the Balasore train accident that killed 278 passengers in 2023.

It spelt the end of the Indian Railways’ autonomy and was a move towards privatisation, said former railway minister Dinesh Trivedi.

Another former railway minister, who is now an NDA ally, is Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. He too had said, “This decision of the union cabinet will not benefit the Railways.”

Eight years later, all their foreboding appears to have been prophetic.

The decision is being questioned once again: What good has it done? Have conditions in the Railways improved? Was it really a reform, or a clever ploy to bury the skeletons and prevent discussion in Parliament?

Had there been a separate Railway Budget, critics wonder, would insane decisions to introduce bullet trains and ‘semi-high-speed’ Vande Bharat trains have been taken, at least without first developing better tracks and modernising the signalling and safety equipment and processes?

The special discussion in Parliament on the Railway Budget offered an opportunity to discuss the Railways' performance, priorities and finances. With no such discussion having been allowed since 2017, there has been no meaningful debate on the Railways, far less the clearing of any doubts or answers to any inconvenient questions.

One of the several reasons cited for merging the budgets was introduced way back in 1924: to spare the Indian Railways the annual dividend it owed the Government of India for the budgetary support given every year.

So the merging of the budgetary operations was expected to save the Railways Rs 10,000 crore annually. Yet, the actual budgetary support to the Railways has multiplied since then, with no savings for either the Railways or the government.

Reckless expenditure by the Railways, on the other hand, has increased.

It was also pointed out that no ministry other than the railways had a separate budget and the practice was not followed in any other country. It has been claimed that the railway budget was used by successive railway ministers to promote their own image and constituency.

This particular argument sounds hollow in hindsight, especially in view of the prime minister himself insisting on flagging off all the Vande Bharat trains, many of them physically, and the doting Railways putting up selfie points at railway stations with the prime minister’s cutouts.

In another display of lopsided priorities massive amounts are being spent on developing ‘world-class’ stations, presumably before handing them over to private parties to operate.

In April this year, in the middle of the Lok Sabha election, Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Secunderabad railway station at a cost of about Rs 720 crore.

Around 1,275 railway stations around the country are slated for redevelopment under the Amrit Bharat scheme.