फजीहत !

On 11 November, 2023, we published, “What is Beyond Reasonable Doubt? Part-II”

On 18 November, 2023, we published, “इन्हें कोई ये कैसे समझाए!”

Amongst other issues we argued for introduction of more #GS-coaches and also to schedule #trains for better utility in short distance movement which will benefit the real poor and needy.

Well, the recent #stampede in Surat, “Gujarat: 1 killed, 3 injured in stampede at Surat railway station”, news of passengers fainting due to overcrowding, “Kerala desperately needs more trains”, has once again brought focus on abject poor planning and disconnect from the user needs.

#Safety, well better left unsaid.

“What was being feared, Indian Railways is slowing down!”

“Your train ride just got longer, know about Indian Railway passenger trains speed”

See:

Why Indian Railways is slowing down?

(Based on articles published in various news portals)

#IndianRailway is slowing down inspite of-

1. Commissioning of Dedicated freight corridor.
2. Adding 4000+ km to its network annually to decongest and expand.
3. Introduction of #highspeed coaches like Vande Bharat and LHB.
4. Commissioning of Modern #Signalling System.
5. Close to 100% #electrification.

Besides #pangs associated with a rapidly growing #economy other reasons are-

1. #RailwayBoard’s directive to slow-down speeds on #freight trains instead of rectifying the underlying #brake issues.
2. Five thousand plus #Permanent-Speed Restrictions besides even higher number of #Temporary-Speed Restrictions.
3. Fifteen thousand plus #Road-Level-Crossings.
4. #Crew Delays.
5. #Fear-factor after spate of #accidents.
6. Non-induction of #Engineers for past few years.
7. New system of #promotion results in supersession of large number of senior officers, who unlike army where you retire unless you reach a certain level in organisation, continue to occupy senior position in a demoralised state of mind.
8. #Blocks required for large no of #infra-upgradation work like #Speed-Raising, #Kavach-installation, #doubling, tripling, etc.
9. Diversion of project-work to divisions under #Gatishakti scheme. Divisional-Officers who are primarily required to concentrate on #Operations, #Safety, #Security & #Punctuality are now preoccupied with project work.
10. Resumption of #Passenger-trains and #Special-trains which were suspended during #COVID, resulting in congestion.
11. Instead of increasing the #Sleeper-class and #General-class coaches in regular trains, reducing them and not making timely #planning for running special trains and #unreserved-jansadharan trains in the #festival-season and #peak-season is not only the most important reason for all the above mentioned reasons but also this is the #evidence of #inefficiency and #incompetence in monitoring at the #board-level and planning at the #zonal-level.

“धीमी क्यों हो रही है भारतीय रेल की गति?” we listed above factors.

#System is becoming #unsafe and #slowing despite massive capital investments. This is #SudheerSense we warned about – pay more to get less.

The #dishonest individuals are shielded while the #honest ones are desperately seeking refuge. The #decision-makers are being sidelined, while those who played it safe and avoided making any decisions are being promoted. The inability to implement necessary administrative #rotations highlights the complete disarray within the #railway-system, not to mention the more important issues like #IRMS.

Is that all? Hold it and sample the icing on the cake!

Can you imagine your #train-stranded for 12 hours? This unbelievable feat was achieved by Bhopal Division, West Central Railway.

https://twitter.com/Railwhispers/status/1726623722852036786?s=20

There is a #Board-level control, there is #Zonal-level control, there is #Divisional-Level control, then there is #RailMadad – still this happened in peak festival season and every one is behaving as if nothing happened? Is this vision of railway’s #amrit-kaal?

This #failure should have seen the #GM, #DRM, #Branch-Officers sent home. But no, emotionally intelligent officers are running the show on #SudheerSense. This 12 hour delay, shows how core #KMG with their 50 year presence in #RailBhawan has eaten the internals of #IndianRailways.

#IndianRailways appears to be completely clueless today, as if they have never experienced line failures before. The #inability to act as a cohesive system has demoralized everyone, and the #leadership has been taken over by individuals who have never took decisions more significant than to sanction casual leaves. This is the reason why the system is in such a state today, with misplaced investments, dissatisfied and troubled users, and countless accidents. This 12-hour delay only further demonstrates that Indian Railway is becoming increasingly incapable of running trains. The loss of #technical-skills and the presence of deeply entrenched personnel are a dangerous combination. The government’s #investment priorities have been completely misguided by #KMG-who continue to be protected, neglecting the needs of the lower levels of the railway network, which should have been a priority.

While we support the idea of #VandeBharat and the push for indigenous solutions, it should not come at the expense of general service coaches, well-timed short-distance trains. What has been achieved has been slowing down of entire network (#GatiShakti and #Transformation Directorates be damned), railway network becoming killing field, railways forgetting even train running.

But all is well ladies and gentlemen – #SudheerSense inspired #emotionally-intelligent leadership, well oiled  and well fed #KMG will keep adding fuel to fire and grease to brake pads, giving pretense of #speed, #light and #sound.

Why worry about insignificant details that the light and sound we see is a result of train #fires, #collisions, #electrocutions, and #stampedes? I sincerely hope, dear reader, that neither you nor your family ever have to be caught up in the chaos of such #incidents or endure being stuck on a train for 12 hours.

Hail #KMG!

वैसे तुलसी बाबा तो कह गये हैं:

तुलसी परिहरि हरि हरहि, पाँवर पूजहिं भूत।
अंत फजीहत होहिंगे, गनिका के से पूत॥

अर्थात् गोस्वामी तुलसीदास जी कहते हैं कि श्री हरि (भगवान् विष्णु) और श्री शंकर जी को छोड़कर जो पामर भूतों की पूजा करते हैं, वेश्या के पुत्रों की तरह उनकी अंत में बड़ी दुर्दशा होगी।” हरि ॐ!

प्रस्तुति: सुरेश त्रिपाठी