Railway Budget – The Uttarakhand Mirage

Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has presented a clever election year please all budget for 2013-14. His priorities include all the right things like safe operation of trains,  improvement in passenger amenities, safety and security, particularly for women and the differently abled; better catering on board trains and at stations; environment friendly initiatives; development of new dedicated freight corridors and strict financial discipline. Citing his ministry’s monetary crunch he has committed to provide for only 22 projects while promising to take up 24 others after obtaining necessary clearances for them from appropriate authorities.

In spite of financial constraints and the fact that our railway system is overstrained, he has   announced 106 new trains, increased the frequency 24, extended the run of 57 others and proposed 89 new surveys across the length and breadth of the country. This was probably inevitable as much of politics is played on this every year. And like most of his predecessors, Bansal has unabashedly allotted a disproportionately high number of 11 trains, besides setting up of a modern signaling equipment facility, to his own parliamentary constituency Chandigarh in a bid to ensure his victory in the next general elections.

Bansal has, cunningly, referred to all the railheads of Uttarakhand in his budget speech while giving a mere 3 new weekly trains, 1 daily passenger,  a minor extension and an extra weekly trip to the state. He has however, stated that he will pursue for approval of the nationally important Tanakpur - Bageshwar project, besides announcing surveys for doubling Dehra Dun - Haridwar  and Kotdwar – Najibabad lines.

A reply dated 6/11/2012 received from Railway Board in response to a query under RTI Act regarding the current status of some projects announced for the state in earlier budgets makes interesting reading. A survey for Dehra Dun – Saharanpur line, carried out by Satpal Maharaj during his stint as MoS for Railways with much fanfare in 1997, was shelved by Railway Board in 2000 after Rs. 4,20,000/- of taxpayer’s money had been spent on it. Kiccha – Khatima new line has not moved beyond the drawing board as our state government has refused to provide free land as per their initial commitment. Rishikesh – Karnprayag line announced with great enthusiasm in 2008 has not progressed beyond the survey stage. Laksar – Haridwar doubling is similarly languishing at the preliminary stage while up gradation of Harrawala station into a terminus has not been sanctioned at all.

Roorkee - Deoband new line, touted as a major project for Uttarakhand and which remains in the news off and on, was sanctioned in 2007-08 on 50:50 cost sharing with the state government. This project has progressed 20%, its estimated cost has more than doubled already, while it is still at the land acquisition stage. The project for development of facilities for running 18 coach rakes between Haridwar and Dehra Dun, also sanctioned in 2007-08, is merely 30% thorough. Lalkuan – Bareilly gauge conversion has been the only one that has been completed, probably because railways already had the land. It can thus be assumed that most of the new surveys announced this year will be of academic interest only.

Despite having six railheads, Uttarakhand in general and capital Dehra Dun in particular, is not adequately connected with the rest of the country. The malady lies not so much in the absence of services but in the fact that existing trains are mostly outdated and slow. While building infrastructure is time and cost intensive, new weekly trains are inadequate, also requiring the mandatory budgetary allocations and clearances.

Against this backdrop, the only possible solution for improving rail services in Uttarakhand lies in prudent management of existing facilities and improvements in the amenities already available, besides speeding up and rescheduling the existing trains.

Dehra Dun Mumbai express, for example, has been running on more or less the same time table since 1931. Having a scheduled halt every 18 kms, this grand old train is pitifully slow compared to all others on the Indian Railways network, consuming 12 hours between Dehra Dun and Nizamuddin which can be cut down to less than 8 like other express trains. It further needs to be speeded up by another 4 hours between Nizamuddin and Mumbai and rescheduled to depart from Dehra Dun around 7:00 PM, while its arrival time at Dehra Dun should be revised to around 9:30 AM, timings at Mumbai remaining unchanged. Its stoppages should also be reduced.

Bagh and Kalinga Utkal are among the other trains needing a relook at their schedules. LTT Haridwar AC express needs to be extended up to Dehra Dun and its journey time reduced by 4 hours by running it at Rajdhani speed. Timetables of other trains running in Uttarakhand can similarly be examined and restructured if necessary.

Dehra Dun railway station is currently equipped to handle short 13 coach rakes only. Older trains overcome this constraint by shedding and attaching some coaches at Haridwar. Newer trains to Indore (1200 km.), Howrah (1600 km.), Okha (1700 km.), Kochuveli (3500 km.), etc., however, do not follow this and run on short rakes throughout their journeys which puts a severe capacity constraint on them. It is suggested that all long distance trains add and detach extra coaches at Haridwar.

Such changes can be brought about quickly by simple resolutions passed by the Railway Board without any need for budgetary support. Our parliamentarians in New Delhi and state government in Dehra Dun can do us a great service by earnestly taking up these and any other similar suggestions with the appropriate authorities in Rail Bhawan and ensuring that these are implemented without delay. Will they oblige us? Or will they merely wait to see how many new surveys our state gets in the next budget!

(Published in Garhwal Post on 07/03/2013)