Has the Indian Railways evolved rapidly since Independence?

From the “rocket” — which won the first steam engines race from Stockington to Darlington in 1829 — the railway world has moved to “bullet trains”. There was even a time when trains were being hauled by mules!

Staggering and impressive are numbers of the Indian Railways as well: 10,500 passenger trains, hauling as many as 2.30 crore passengers each day – the combined population size of Australia and New Zealand!

There is a train taking off from major stations approximately every 12 minutes. In its inventory, the Indian Railways have 9 lakh wagons, 59,000 coaches and 9,000 locomotives. For running 5,000 diesel trains, the railways burn approximately 250 crore litres of diesel each year.

So, have the Indian Railways actually evolved at a rapid pace?

The answer to this is contained in the following facts: In less than 20 years after the Railways came to India in 1853, major metropolitan centres including Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras had been connected.

In the next 50 years, all the existing hill railways in India had been constructed.

In the 94 years from 1853, 54,000 kilometres of rail network had been built in India at a rate of 600 kilometers per year. In the 69 years since Independence, just about 10,000 kilometres of new tracks have been added to the network, at a rate of approximately 160 kilometres each year.

While all the five hill railways had become operational by 1930, independent India has not been able to complete construction of the Kashmir rail link in the last 69 years.

Ascribing reasons of the hugeness of the task in managing a network as vast as India’s, officials say that the performance of the public transporter is creditable. But being in a monopolistic situation – and in a seller’s market – do railway officials actually have to show such helplessness?