Lifeline Railways: Much to answer

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

Last week, I had to travel on a short notice and I realized the enormity of the problem at hand. It was next to impossible to get a confirmed railway ticket, there was no bus service for the over 1200 km journey and there were no direct or even indirect flights available for the destination as there was no airport in and around the place I intended to visit.

Then, I thought of driving down to the place, some 1200 kms from Chandigarh. As I was mentally preparing for the drive, one of the persons whom I had talked to earlier, informed me that my Railway ticket could be confirmed through the “Head Office” quota of the railways, meant for those who can pull their strings.

I opened the computer and tried booking a ticket so that the details could be given to an acquaintance in the Railway ministry. The site of IRCTC refused to open and when it eventually did, there was a “time-out error”. Frustrated, I decided that driving down was a better option as compared to the options which I was trying.

Then, I got a phone call from an assistant who informed me that Railway tickets under the Tatkal quota were available in the train which left Chandigarh late in the night. The ticket was bought. It was a different matter that the train which was supposed to leave at 11.15 in the night finally left three hours late making my plan go haywire. But given the shortage, who is bothered about the timings as long as you get a confirmed ticket?

What an exercise it was. I was left wondering what would happen to a common man if he/her has to plan a travel on a short notice of a day or may be a few hours. They will have to get ready to be packed like animals in the general compartment. Mind you, there are laws to prevent cruelty to animals and packing them in a vehicle beyond capacity. There is no such rule in the Railways and it merrily inflicts cruelty to human being day in and day out. The general compartments are filled ten times their capacity and no one books a railway employee for “cruelty to human beings”. At least, I knew a few people and someone helped me in the exercise. Over 99 per cent of the people do not have any such privilege.

Clearly, there is an economy of shortage. This shortage is not in purchasing consumer goods or food items but in the travel sector. In the long distance sector, the government has complete monopoly through railways. Here train tickets are booked four months in advance. I don’t know in this age, how many people can afford to plan their journey four or three months in advance. Try booking a railway ticket in a long distance train in the period around the festivals in October and November. You will be told that the tickets were sold out the moment they were up for sale.

To rake in the moolah in this economy of shortage, now the government itself is in the business of “Black Marketing”. By selling tickets in Tatkal, it simply wants to keep its margins of profit high.  I remember, few years ago - before the days of multiplexes – if you wanted to see a new movie, there were toughies roaming around the theatre who used to sell you movie tickets on a premium. This was called Black marketing and was thriving before the multiplex boom. I have never seen cinema tickets being sold in Black now in cities where the multiplexes exist.

The reason was simple. The availability of tickets and the flexibility of movie timings in the multiplexes sounded the death knell for the species called “Black ticket seller”. The supply has outstripped the demand.

I fail to understand why the Railways could not understand the phenomenon that more and more people would travel for work, leisure, getting treatment, education or simply for the joy which visiting new places bring about. As the economy grows, people travel and here the mandarins of the Railway ministry simply failed the people of the country. They could not visualize 30 years ago that more and more people would travel once the economy grows and failed to lay new tracks to cope up with the traffic or introduce measures which could increase availability of seats as per the demand.

This failure is colossus. Even now, there is no planning to build new tracks and routes to cope up with traffic now or ten and 20 years down the line. Imagine what would happen when twice the number of people who are traveling now, are looking for tickets in the year 2025 and 2030. What will the Railways or the government do then? Leave them to their fate and look the other way round!

I remember, two years ago, in the peak of summer season, I was stranded at Benares Railway station. The train which I intended to board did not even have a place to stand. They were packed in a manner where you cannot even find space to breathe.  In the AC compartment, those having reserved accommodation were on their berths while the rest of the space was occupied by unreserved passengers standing like statues. The Railway Protection Force failed to evict the passengers from the AC compartment who simply pleaded that they had to travel and they had bought tickets for that. The hapless RPF constables let them travel and did not use force to evict the passengers. I can visualize a similar and far worse situation in all the trains if the transport scenario of the country does not improve. And so far, there is no sign of improvement.

After independence, only 20-25 per cent additional railway tracks have been laid in the country even though the number of people traveling has jumped by 3000-5000 per cent. This is a criminal neglect—a neglect which continues unabated.

In the developed countries, no one is bothered about the Railways. You either take a flight or drive down. Here, it will take at least 3 decades to have that kind of vehicle penetration and availability of affordable flights and airports. Even then, the sheer number of people and the increase in population would mean that the Railways would be the main career—30 or 50 years down the line. But is there any preparedness? The answer is simply No. (August 13, 2012)