Would have first improvised Indian Railways than going for a bullet train project

There have been umpteen train accidents in the country claiming hundreds of thousands of precious lives and irrespective of successive governments’ hailing from whichever party of political conglomeration, all governments have been crying hoarse on the shortage of budget.

There is no doubt that Indian Railways is the biggest and hugest railway network in the world ferrying crores of people daily from one corner of the country to another. But it is also equally true that despite India gaining independence from the British yoke seventy years ago, the condition of India Railways is still too bad and worrisome with train accidents happening every now and then despite the fact that India has made tremendous rise in its nuclear capability to sending rocket to Mars.

India today stands as one of the prestigious nations’ in international political and diplomatic scenario having been the main reason in the leverage of power as a powerful nation with every high profile developed and super power trying to side with us. But despite all these achievements Indian railways is even today in a sorry state of affairs. India is a vast nation and therefore its problems are also multi pronged and so is the problem of Indian railways.

On the one hand Indian Railways has a total annual budget of Rupees 1.3 trillion and has to commission 35000 kilometers of railway lines with number of train accidents already happening in various parts of the country killing hundreds of innocent commuters for no fault of their except travelling in Indian Railways. The conditions of Railways lines and tracts are worrisome, having not been altogether repaired since the British era at some places.

The stations are in shabby state of affairs with no arrangements for adequate drinking water, medical treatments, resting or lodging facilities or adequate reservation privileges for women, visually n physically handicapped ans senior citizens except on papers. Every new minister comes and vows to improvise the railways but unfortunately the accidents of trains due to poor condition of unpaired railway tracts and lines and poor signaling systems compounded with so much of errors n negligence,  go on happening killing the innocents and bringing bad name and insult to the reputation of the oldest and largest Indian Railways in the world.

Now the point is, a country with its own Railways in such a shabby state of affairs with commuters sitting on the rooftops, climbing and clinging on doors of running trains thus risking their precious lives regularly, was it necessary and in the fitness of things that India should build a bullet train corridor for high speed bullet train on Ahmedabad to Mumbai route just carrying merely 735 high profile commuters of affluent sections of the society at the whopping cost of 108 lakh crores, on a credit from Japan? and that too with little or limited rofit as compared to a giganic lan.

Can’t this or a likewise staggering amount could have been used or incurred or spent on improving or repairing of our railway tracks and network, already in bad shape and the primary reason for fatal accidents or give Indian railways more train with better facilities and privileges to commuters living in distant parts of the country, who are still bereft or devoid of the train facilities and is mandatory for them as well. Is it not true that there are umpteen services of trains and air from Ahmedabad to Mumbai and vice versa? And that bullet train worth of 108 lakh crore was not at all necessary in the present juncture, particularly when the indigenous Indian Railways is itself in extremely bad shape requiring urgent improvisation. What do you say friends?

SUNIL NEGI