Letters: A road map for railways

This refers to Shreekant Sambrani's column "Re-engineering railways" (Et cetera, November 18). For too long, railway ministers have exploited the Indian Railways as a tool of vote bank politics rather than a commercial vehicle and, as in China, a key infrastructural support system for rapid growth.

Suresh Prabhu, the new railways minister, faces many challenges - declining operating ratio, a well-entrenched, slow moving bureaucracy, inadequate maintenance and equipment obsolescence causing unsafe travel, loss of market share in the passenger and freight segments, gauge conversion, doubling of lines, electrification of tracks and so on.

There is no dearth of suggested remedies by experts, including the writer. The recommendations talk about decentralisation of the powers and enhancing the accountability of the Railway Board, converting the railways from a government department to a company under the Companies' Act, setting up a tariff board for rationalising freight and passenger fares and so on.

However, in Prabhu, we have a visionary minister. His dilemma is how to prioritise the issues and what to choose from the rich counsels available and those in his mind. Focussing on customer service, efficiency, safety and revenue generation could help.

Y G Chouksey Pune

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