Delhi Bombay has 72 daily flights but just 7 daily trains!

How bad policy decisions can be.

We are a nation with 200 Million poor people. The Government of the day swears by “serving the poor”. The Railway Minister is the “champion of the downtrodden”. But the hypocrisy has no better proof – while there are 72 flights a day between Delhi and Bombay there are just 7 trains a day! That such a cruel joke is perpetrated on the Nation when crude oil (India depends on import for 70+% of its consumption) is soaring at $ 68!

We have systematically killed a great organization like Indian Railways. We had the second largest Railway network that was functioning so well for decades.
By the successive populist measures (all that it means is that Railway Ministers treat Railways as their personal property, put their men everywhere and run all the trains to their constituency, use Railway money to bring out full-page advertisements with their pictures every other day) a great organization has been reduced to a system that has frequent accidents, never on time, unclean stations and corrupt “babus” all the way from the top.

If the Government really wants to serve the poor the first thing they should do is to restore Indian Railways to its glorious days. They have manufacturing capacity to add 10,000 coaches a year (Railways have no money to order); Railways are “eco friendly”; Train travel is “people friendly”. Railway Stations can become centers of commercial activity (hotels, shopping) and great resting places, that in turn can promote inland tourism; all at a fraction of the cost of air travel