Kanpur Tragedy: Privatisation Won’t Transform Rail Death Traps

Kanpur rail tragedy raises questions about passenger safety, but privatisation won’t help, writes Gautam Mukherjee

The Indian Railways, with an increasingly disastrous safety record over the last decade, continues to lurch from tragedy to crisis, 30 months into the Modi government.

It is clear the entire railway system is in extreme jeopardy, with the basic legacy infrastructure on the brink of collapse, but hopelessly tied up in in metres of red tape.

The latest accident took place 60 km short of Kanpur. It is yet another horrendous derailment. This one was ostensibly due to two, ancient, over-stuffed, passenger bogeys, that came apart. The first assumption however was of expansion-contraction stress, that had ‘cracked’ the fatigued, old, rails.

Irrespective, what is evident, is that the passenger bogeys, the tracks, the equipment, even the human processes employed, are all superannuated.

Also Read: Kanpur Train Tragedy: Four Theories On What Led to The Accident

What Happened to the Railway Safety Fund?

Where was the ‘condition-based monitoring system’ to check on bearings, coach suspension, wheel defects, hanging parts, broken springs… when it was needed?

This latest tragedy has claimed over 140 lives. There is inevitably, yet another ‘thorough probe’ in the works.

The Indian Railways, under current minister Suresh Prabhu, did plead with the finance ministry for a separate dedicated railway safety fund for a strange calculus of Rs 1,19, 183 crore recently, but was turned down.

Another effort, the Anil Kakodkar report, tabled in 2012, called for just Rs 20,000 crore per annum for five consecutive years. It never got past the discussion stage.

However, since the British era separate railway budget was merged with the union budget earlier this year, funding railway safety, along with everything else, is the finance minister’s job now.

Misplaced Priorities

The government apparently has other priorities. It seems unwilling to raise and allocate the necessary finances to modernise, and radically overhaul, the long-neglected infrastructure.

It does however manage to pay for its strategic priorities in the railways. That is why it is pressing on with creating new connectivity to the north-east of the country for the first time.

The chronic central government underfunding, combined with the railway ministry’s inability to raise monies on its own, despite its properties and land banks, is rapidly thrusting the fourth largest railway network in the world, into a catch-22 abyss.

Meanwhile, a manifold increase in user numbers has been responded to only by increasing the number of trains. And increasing freight loads and speed. But all of these pound away over the ancient tracks, directed by antique, manual, signalling/track management equipment.

Also Read: Helpless Bride, Trapped Kids: Survivors Recount Kanpur Rail Horror

Half-Hearted Measures

The reluctance to raise passenger fares sufficiently, in keeping with inflation, if nothing else, also has the entire segment incurring heavy losses.

The stratagem of cross-subsidising passenger fare losses with exorbitant freight rates, has also backfired, and resulted in loss of business to an ever growing road transport business.

Sought after innovations and probable cash cows, such as a series of dedicated freight corridors, have not even made a start, let alone materialised as yet!

Over the last decade, there have an increasing number of human errors, fires, derailments, bridge collapses, collisions, level-crossing accidents, faulty signals, stampedes, dacoities, rapes, murders, and other security lapses.

Also Read: Kanpur Tragedy: In Past 6 Years, Railway Mishaps Claimed 620 Lives

Can Privatisation Provide Solutions?

The situation can only be set right at massive public expense. Because no private investment can be expected to sink funds into building such a non-remunerative backbone activity. Unless, like the Chinese will do, in certain third countries like Malaysia, where they are able to contract deals at a very high price, inclusive of kickbacks for all enablers, exclusive use of their own men and materials, and massive built-in profits for themselves. Plus, long-term loans, to be serviced by the host countries!

Privatisation of existing and legacy railway infrastructure, has not, truth be told, been undertaken anywhere in the world.

Thatcherite Britain did privatise, but only the operations. This resulted in sharp rises in passenger fares, with only marginal improvement in services.

But even the net realisations from high fares cannot be reckoned to be ‘profits’, in the true sense, if the cost of improvement and maintenance of the infrastructure, still paid for solely by the UK government, were to be deducted.

Considering the way things have come to pass, it is incumbent on the Modi government to urgently raise ample and massive funds, to completely revamp and renew the Indian Railway apparatus, and give this vital strategic network a new lease of life.

(Gautam Mukherjee is a plugged-in commentator and instant analyser. He can be reached at @gautammuk. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)