CRB’s angst—PMO’s anxiety
“If plans were made hurriedly, then atleast at first available opportunity, reset them, redraw them” -CRB
14-15 hours long TRD failure crippling one of the high density routes of the country, average sectional speeds still less than 20 kmph, a Cherlapally, a Madurai, a Cuddalore, a Balasore, a Chakradharpur, the list is endless to show why country is paying dearly for poor leadership of railways and its myopia!
On a review of #Targeted-Works for boosting productivity and mobility by Chairman/Railway Board (#CRB) and Member Infrastructure (#MInfra) on 19 July, senior officers of all #ZonalRailways were shocked by their strident tone.
CRB soon made it clear that in a recent meeting at Prime Minister’s Office (#PMO) he was apprised of the anxiety of PMO about poor #quality of work done in various #Railway projects. Reportedly, PMO has asked the CRB to audit projects done during last three years and identify officers and contractors responsible for poor quality of work.
He singled out projects of East Central Railway (#ECR) where after completion of works, net capacity came down and in another case #Construction of a new bridge has threatened #Safety of an existing bridge. CRB said, “if plans were made hurriedly, then atleast at first available opportunity, reset them, redraw them”.
Moot Question
Works were sanctioned with objective of consuming money allotted. Period.
The rush in which the Detailed Project Reports (#DPR) were made and signed made sure that those who made proposals won accolades, but they became a millstone around the neck of successive officers.
MInfra was right in mentioning in an earlier review that station development sometimes boils down to expanse of concrete carpet made even in places where there is hardly some footfall or any parking need.
Failure to improves sectional speed—speaks of faulty #traffic and network planning. #Failure of new locomotives, failure of new #rollingstock speaks volumes of rushed, unthoughtful approach.
Why did it happen?
The #advisers to power that be and race to win Social Media race is simple reason. But like #socialmedia reel, its value is lost after 24 hours-while, enduring work like #Chenab Bridge will live for generations.
Officers are busy collecting #thumbs-ups in various #WhatsApp groups for even doing what is their normal duties—this reduces serious nature of established railway work and discipline in disrepute.
Unfortunately, what is happening on #tracks is not matter of concern-of interest are #Cafes and #ATMs in coaches. Why go far, just look at the #teej parties all over the railways as a senior officer who retired after nearly four decades of illustrious service said—“he mused as many young officers post teej photographs of their spouses on the WhatsApp-DP of their official phones. Well it can be personal choice of few, but this looks like cultural morass”.
Clearly, the silent #workers bear the brunt of such aggressive system.
“It is clear that failure to #rotate also owes to lost ability to run #administration purely on merits and needs of the citizenry. And who are the administrators and who controls them? If not #vendors then the #spouses”, this officer said. The rare vanishing breed which had certain #OLQ has withdrawn themselves leaving ground free for the Khan Market Gang (#KMG).
A Traction Distribution (#TRD) failure crippling one of the high density routes of the country, average sectional speeds still less than 20 kmph, a #Cherlapally, a #Madurai, a #Cuddalore, a #Balasore, a #Chakradharpur, the list is endless to show why country is paying dearly for poor #leadership of railways and its myopia!
This despite the fact that Hon’ble PM has opened the purse for #IndianRailways. If PMO today is upset, then there is every reason for that. They clearly did not prioritise #investment in railways to get the results that are finally coming.
Our pain is that we have been writing to give solution to railways’ problems. See our recent “The Ask” series for example-
13 July, 2025: “TheAsk, Part-6: Drop the Facade of Confidentiality of CRS Reports”
24 June, 2025: “The Ask—Part-V: A pause!”
31 March, 2025: “The Ask #4: Can the Compromised Lead?”
30 March, 2025: “The Ask #3: Is Station Development in current form a good idea? Need for real development”
24 March, 2025: “The Ask, Part-II: Bring Transparency, Ethics & Accountability-on house retention policy”
12 March, 2025: “The Ask : Part-I”