The Ask—Part-V : A pause !

Almost ₹17 lakh crore have been put by #Modi Government in to #IndianRailways (IR) as it completed its 11 years. This is unprecedented and will not happen in our life times again, many officers say, and I also feel the same. A finance officer quipped that this investment has come while #Government of India took over entire #pension liability of IR. This, the Indian Railway Accounts Service (#IRAS) officer said, is the real windfall for IR.

Nevertheless, the thankless self seeking charlatans who have kept themselves stuck at metros with fevicol, gamed this pious intent of #Modi Government. As we brought out, the real beneficiary of this government have been no different from the beneficiaries of #UPA governments.

As we wrote on 21st June, “Why Railway Officers are not Respected by anyone?”, process of compromising railway officers has become very easy, no matter how dangerous and unethical decision be, anything can be signed-just throw a bone of extension or re-engagement. See how many got rewarded and the decisions they were party to.

Wake-up Call

Modi ji, while you gave oxygen and nourished this organisation, look what you got from the #corrupt-nexus? We called it #AIDS (All India Delhi Service) and the #KMG (Khan Market Gang).

What was sold to you as #reform was clever regulatory capture, where compromised rule makers benefited most in “reformed and transformed regime”.

Balasore should have been your wake up call. You went with Lalu Yadav to attend #SabarmatiExpress accident in 2005 as CM of Gujarat—“Sabarmati Express Accident, 17 dead, 80 injured”. The two accidents had same underlying reasons. But did your officers brief you on that?

July 4, 2023: “Human error, wrong signalling led to Odisha train accident: Report”. Modi ji, this #IndiaToday article clearly points out avoidable mistakes at multiple levels by railways—did you get any feedback? What corrective measures were taken and if anyone was ‘really’ taken-up or punished?

You may also see, June 2, 2024: “Balasore accident anniversary: Train mishap deja vu strikes again as two goods trains collide in Punjab”.

But #JayaVermaSinha as Member/Operations & Business Development (#MOBD) earned a 11 month extension on only One Month residual service and got promoted as Chairman/CEO/Railway Board (#CRB)!

And sir, has anyone told you that #Kavach will not solve problems like Balasore, Gonda, Khatauli etc. etc. while making system so complex that without #vendors your own staff and officers will be helpless.

Time for a Pause

Modi ji, there is urgent crying need of a pause.

Lakhs of crores are being poured in Kavach. Lakhs of crores more in to multi-tracking. Lakhs of crores more in to rolling stock. 2×25 kV #Electrification was to be done only on high density network—not even Japan-France-Germany have used this for their less dense networks—but then they never had officers like you have. #Station development at few tens of thousands of crores is surely chicken feed before these mega projects, but the amount is significant.

Record cases of #Corruption involving senior officers, extremely poor #Construction of #AmritBharat Stations causing embarrassment continuous stream of accidents, are they pointing to something?

Please take a pause. Identify #PrincipalAgent problem in Indian Railway bureaucracy. Identify people who gave tainted advice to you.

Someone needs to brief you—What is the average #speed of trains today? Does capping waitlist to 25% of #Train capacity any helpful after about 17 lakh crore investment? Whereas people were promised that they will get confirm seat/berth by 2018-19.

Once Kavach gets implemented, no #locomotive, no #station, no #trainset, no #maintenance machine will be left untouched. Remember—Kavach is not a new signalling system, it is an expensive overlay on existing #signalling system. Forever dependence would be created—to try solve a problem which just needed disciplined approach in gear maintenance. Is this new rent seeking opportunity created by very same engineers those who have repeatedly caused Balasore type of accidents?

Priority should mean priority

Everything is priority today—whether it is Fit India or Yoga Day or inauguration functions—they need no less attention and time than train running, who will tell you the truth? How can system remain focused especially when #Safety clearly seems neglected on ground.

Modi ji, please ask for an independent assessment of asset reliability. Failure of #OHE and #Locomotives have crossed levels earlier reserved for #signal gear failures.

Scenes like these, seen in #Palghar, #WesternRailway on 21 June, have become common occurrence. With weakened RDSO, there is no one left to guide the junior officers. HQ is busy in guarding their posting and their sewadars. How can people have confidence to travel in trains when such incidents happen? What action has been taken to restore confidence? Who will take this call?

These lines take petroleum products also. What would have happened if this was a #LPG train? Fault, experts say is not with the divisional officers. These problems need to be solved by #RDSO and #RailwayBoard should enable it. Entire #electrical department, they say is sucked by doing largely unneeded 2×25 kV electrification, which is pushed by railway board.

Shortage of working level officers, absence of talent amongst them, incompetent leadership which only uses decibels and bullying to lead subordinates has hollowed the system and made it bereft of any credibility.

The Ask: Modi ji, tell Ministry of Railways to take a pause—let them go back to fundamentals. Look for officers who still have some conscience left in them take them onboard to bring the system back to basics—train running needs honest inputs every minute. Please ask your Chairman if he is confident on his rolling stock and tracks? Why he desperately conducts his monthly meeting trying to guide activities which should happen on their own deep at divisional level?

March 12, 2025: “The Ask : Part-I”

March 24, 2025: “The Ask, Part-II: Bring Transparency, Ethics & Accountability-on house retention policy”

March 30, 2025: “The Ask, Part-III: Is Station Development in current form a good idea? Need for real development”

March 31, 2025: “The Ask—Part-VI: Can the Compromised Lead?”