Title - Three tips for rail minister Bansal

Rail Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, a full time Congress minister since 1995, when C K Jaffer Sheriff presented the budget, will follow his predecessors in grandstanding, even as he prepares to open his account with a century – 100 trains – Here are three tips Minister Bansal could do with, if he were to be a reformist rail minister-

Do not announce new trains –

* 100 new likely to be announced by Bansal

The buzz in the capital’s newsroom is that Bansal, is likely to announce 100 new trains, some fancy ones too like a double decker coach and special stainless steel body coaches. The temptation to announce new trains or extension of existing lines is driven purely by political considerations as members of parliament lobby hard to get a train to touch their constituency.

While the need for connectivity is well understood, does any one turn back to see what happens beyond the announcement? Political leaders of the East have held the railway portfolio; an extension of the colonial past in some sense, as railways was one of the biggest industries and employers of the British Raj.

So be it mercurial Mamata Banerjee, the rustic Lalu Prasad, the understated Nitish Kumar or Ram Vilas Paswan (not to forget Congress’s warhorse Ghani Khan Chowdhury), the railway ministry has had an Eastern edge with maximum number of trains being announced for the  eastern part of the country, so what if only a few got off the ground, which brings me to the second point that Minister Bansal can pay heed to.

Scrap Still-born Rail Projects & amend rules to kill them–

* 347 projects have been conceived but no delivery date

The Railways have put aside Rs 1.47 lakh crore on an estimated 347 rail projects that are stillborn.  Some examples of stillborn rail projects include the 109.8-km long Howrah-Amta new line and three related projects in West Bengal commissioned in 1974-75 but are yet to be completed. Similarly, 348.25-km long Guna-Etawah via Shivpur and Gwalior-Bhind new line that has been under construction since 1985-86.

These projects, primarily new trains or railway lines to destinations far and wide that almost every rail minister labors to pronounce, are part of records, but have only remained in paper. 

However, since it is approved by Parliament, the railways have to keep them “alive” by notionally putting aside money on them. It is time voters realise that many of the trains announced by the railway minister during a rail budget are only a lip service for the ignorant fool. Bansal, would do good to do a reality check and restrict new projects, is it a coach-making factory or a wagon station, or simply just new trains to the ones that are economically feasible.

More than 325 railway projects, including lying of new lines, gauge conversion and doubling, are under construction and require over Rs 1.25 lakh crore for completion. Some projects are 30 years!

Pass on true fuel costs to customers

Introduce diesel cess on freight and fare

The government’s decision to reduce subsidies on diesel and sell bulk diesel at market rates has increased the fuel costs for Railways. It is estimated that Railways are incurring an additional expense of an estimated Rs 3600 crore with the hefty increase of Rs 10.80 a litre.

So, the fare hike announced by Bansal, in the spirit of the reformist agenda of the government a few back ago, will be unable to meet the fund required as almost half of it is going towards higher fuel bills. It is estimated that almost 50% of trains still use diesel as a fuel and hence a hike in diesel prices puts an additional cost on the railway operations.

These are actual cost and would do well for Bansal to pass them on as diesel cess on fares and freight if the railways have to remain in the black.