On August 6, the Prime Minister launched revamp of 508 railway stations across India at an estimated cost of ₹24,470 crore, including Mumbai CSTM at ₹1,813 crore, Surat at ₹980 crore and Egmore at ₹842 crore. The event was hailed by many commentators as another step towards modernisation of railway infrastructure and an initiative to improve patronage of passenger trains.

The government believes that the Indian Railways’ (IR) performance should not be viewed in isolation but in the context of the country’s economy as a whole; IR is an engine to complement and boost economic activity. Massive investment in redevelopment of stations, along with introduction of many Vande Bharat trains are offshoots of this belief.

But IR’s operating performance, financial health and safety should not be lost sight of. While there is merit in investment in Railways to boost manufacturing and services, it should be kept in mind that these investments should be productive for IR’s revenues too.

Stress on increasing the inter-modal share of IR in freight sector, upgrade of basic infrastructure to support heavier and speedier trains and introduction of Kavach and other safety works may have lower optics, but they should be focus areas. It is notable that in spite of multifold increase in investment in IR infrastructure in the last decade, the average annual growth in freight volume of IR has been around 3 per cent over the last eight years (FY16-FY23); freight volume growth was 1 per cent in the first four months of this fiscal, even as the economy is growing at 6 per cent.

Capex boost

If the record hike in capex at over ₹2-lakh crore last year and far more this year, with record electrification, record new lines commissioning, record locomotive production do not result in a matching increment in freight sector, it is time to pause and take stock on a priority basis.

This is not to say that station redevelopment is not needed. But the devil lies is in the detail, which is sketchy. Stations should be rendered functionally efficient. This means photo op stations with a grand façade and mall-like environment are not really necessary.

We need easy entry/exit of road vehicles with grade separation in large stations, hassle-free entry/exit of passengers with PIS on devices or large boards obviating the need to ask someone for information. Hygienic environment, easy boarding/deboarding and crowd management on platforms are called for. Airport-like stations are not a great idea.

Ideally the waiting time, unlike on an airport, should be minimal and that can happen only if trains run punctually and their receipt and dispatch work efficiently. Clean waiting areas, eateries, shops and facades reflecting the ethos and culture of the city they represent are needed, but they cannot be the overriding focus. Other aspects which should be targeted are the inter-modal transfer in large cities and eventually IR devising a system for restricted entry to platforms and even the concourses.

Large stations on IR already have huge footfalls of passengers running into lakhs per day. These should be catered to efficiently instead of trying to attract more non-travelling footfalls. Commercial exploitation to increase non-fare revenues is important but IR’s dalliance with PPP model of redevelopment came a cropper, particularly because of challenges, such as lack of space for expansion on either side of these stations and the necessity to deal with multiple agencies like municipalities and State governments. It is all under EPC model now and therefore, only after the basic amenities are ensured should the promise of other facilities be examined and planned.

Effective time-bound execution is also the key. IR has done only three major station projects, Gandhinagar, Habibgunj and Byappanhalli in 20 years since stations came into focus. There too, experience shows that mere sprucing up of a station would not work. Approachability and operation of popular trains are equally important.

Tendering impasse

The case of New Delhi station, the flagship, is forever embroiled in tendering and re-tendering. After a fresh announcement last year of redevelopment projects for New Delhi, CST Mumbai and Ahmedabad stations, two of them were derailed once again with the bidding process getting cancelled for New Delhi and Ahmedabad, taking them to square one.

In respect of meaningful infrastructural projects, the example of Kavach, arguably one of the most important development to improve line capacity, safety and average speed, stands out. The progress of implementation of Kavach is very slow and continues to rest at mere 1,400 km in South Central Railway.

It was surprising that the Railways Ministry recently declared that expeditious deployment of Kavach is hampered by industrial capacity constraints. The responsibility of nurturing competent companies to invest and implement project speedily with a long-term outlook rests with the Ministry and they should not fritter away the benefits of this great indigenous development in a shallow blame-game.

The writer is Retd. General Manager/IR and leader of Train 18/Vande Bharat