Today, as we celebrate the birthday of one of the largest
public sector employer in the world, the picture looks gloomy for the enterprise.
British must have built and expanded railways in India
for their selfish gains but it is also one of the gifts to the country when it
got independent. We had a great mesh of tracks connecting many hinterlands of
the country. It is still very evident. Every place in India that has seen
accelerated growth has a railway station in its vicinity. The places which did
not have rail connectivity did not make great inroads on development until Road
Infrastructure started improving in the past 2 decades. Take Mumbai for example. It
wouldn't have been the same Financial Capital unless it had a robust rail
infrastructure. While many argue that we still have 10 deaths on a daily basis
due to congestion. You can't negate the fact that without trains, Mumbai would
have been like any other 2 tier city in the country. The only thing that brings
Mumbai to halt is rains and the subsequent failure of trains. Such is its
importance to Mumbai Economy.
There are some radical changes required, some very
unpopular ones, some challenging the institution and some challenging the mere
existence of its operational structure. A fresh breath of investment with
strong and viable returns is the need of
the hour. The man at the helm is probably the best person to do that and he is
definitely putting in a lot of efforts. He is failing at some innovations but he
hasn't backed out yet. The zeal to raise
IR from its doldrums keeps him going. He is not very popular in his
political circle, but he understands economics and the fruits of strategic
planning don't bear fruits in a month. It takes years for them to materialize on
the ground. What makes him different from his predecessors is that he still is a
student at heart and the urge for learning and taking corrective action is
imbibed in him like a teenage student. His TED Talk clearly shows the path he
wants to follow.
We need to be patient with him and give him a free hand
to break traditions, think out of the box, and deliver. The organization is so
huge that it is simply not realistic, if you wish to see the change within a
year or 2. Like a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP); IR needs time to grow its
capacity and realize its full potential. Give him 10 years and I am sure we will
see a different IR.
I have travelled far and wide in South East Asian
countries and have travelled in most metros in these regions. There isn't much of
a difference between Delhi Metro and a Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or Tokyo
Metro. Beyond the cosmetic difference of the seating in the coaches, our Metro
systems work as efficiently as theirs. This essentially means, Indians are
capable of building world class rail infrastructure, and operating it. But, it
needs a strong financial backing and men of grit who want to circumvent the red
tape and complete tasks at hand before the deadlines. While Delhi Metro is not
Indian Railways, it can be emulated and teachings can be taken into
consideration.
We are at juncture in the history of Indian Railways
where it can collapse altogether or start rising like a Phoenix. For the
betterment of country, economy and its people, I wish we do the latter. IR has
finally started understanding its customers needs better. They have started
listening and responding. There are Organizational and Financial restructuring
happening like overhauling of reporting structure, analysis of
data,digitalization of workflows and more power to the executives. Accrual based
accounting and creation of an authority to look into tariffs , all augurs well.
I may be a rail fan, and bound to be biased to the
aspirations of IR. But, there would be hardly any Indian who has travelled on the gigantic Indian Railways and not
cherish their journey.
Its time to #GetGloryBack
Long live Indian Railways !!!
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