News analysis


itself off following its latest setback, it is clear that the political instability of the past few years has taken a huge toll on operations.


Internal assessments show that in the first two years of the 12th five-year plan from 2012 to 2014, IR will be able to invest just Rs 1.05 trillion ($US 19.8bn), around half of the amount originally planned. Traffic figures make similarly depressing reading. In 2012-13 total freight volumes came in 28 million tonnes short of its goal - posing a huge question over whether the target of 1.41 billion tonnes in 2016-17, the final year of the 12th plan, will be met.


IR is also far behind the 12th plan targets for procuring 105,659 wagons as well as other projects focusing on capacity enhancement and physical output. Big-ticket projects - with the exception of the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) scheme (IRJ March p18) - have simply not taken off, while public-private partnership (PPP) financing plans have floundered. In the past four years, no less than five cabinet ministers have been at the helm; the most recent being Mr Pawan


Things can only get bet A


India waved goodbye to its fifth railway minister in four years last month following allegations of corruption that shook the nation. Raghav Thakur considers the prospects for Indian Railway following the cash for jobs scandal.


S Indian Railways (IR) picks itself up and dusts


Kumar Bansal, who was forced to make an inglorious exit in May following a corruption scandal involving his nephew Mr Vijay Singla and railway board member, staff, Mr Mahesh Kumar. While dark clouds have


circled over IR’s Rail Bhavan headquarters in Delhi for some time now, the silver lining - if there is one - is found in this scenario: in what is the last year of the UPA coalition government, Mr Mapanna Mallikarjun Kharge, who was appointed railways minister on June 18, will have little option but to push through the reforms and modernisation plans that have remained on the drawing board for the past few years. Dr C P Joshi, who assumed temporary control of the railways portfolio following Bansal’s resignation, started to move in this direction at the start of June by inviting vendors at a pre-bid conference to set up diesel and electric locomotive factories at Marhoura and Madhepura in Bihar province under a PPP structure.


The firms shortlisted for the


proposed joint venture - GE, EMD, Bombardier, Siemens and Alstom - have been offered revised terms of engagement, which includes an assured maintenance


contract of five years, while IR has agreed to purchase locomotives from the two factories at a higher price: Rs 160m for a diesel unit and Rs 260m for an electric. The two plants, which will cost approximately Rs 40bn, are expected to roll out 800 8.95MW electric Bo-Bo locomotives and 700 diesel units of 3.4MW and 300 of 4.5MW over 11 years. Global bids for setting up the two facilities are expected to be invited at the end of September.


Clearly, IR has been unable to keep pace with technological upgrade and infrastructure


expansion plans with barely any capacity expansion taking place in the last 20 years.


Following this month’s


Tokyo summit between India’s prime minister Mr Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Mr Shinzo Abe, India’s high-speed plans have also taken a step forward. “There are some


reservations and political sensitivities involved, but it is quite likely that in the months


leading to the 2014 general elections, the UPA coalition would want to initiate the process on constructing high- speed lines on one of the identified routes as a showcase project,” a senior official said. A Japanese consortium


recently submitted a pre- feasibility study report for running trains at an average speed of 200km/h initially on the existing Delhi - Mumbai route. Track upgrade and fencing costs are estimated at Rs 80bn while the acquisition of a fleet of trains to operate on the route is estimated to cost Rs 70bn.


India’s railway network statistics offers staggering reading: 7083 stations, 131,205 bridges, 9000 locomotives, 51,030 passenger coaches, 219,931 freight wagons and 63,974 route-km, while IR operates 19,000 trains and carries 2.65 million tonnes of freight and 23 million passengers each day. Despite its problems and its vastness, the system is functioning and trains are running on time, with one official stating that IR has survived merely “because of its institutional strength.” But there is a less


complimentary side: India’s rail network in 1947 consisted of 54,000 route-km and was ahead of China’s. A further 10,000 route-km has been built


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