Indian Railways privatization —

Abdicating responsibility.

— Anuj Wankhede

After Habibganj (Bhopal), more railway stations to be privatised says Indian Railways.

Privatization of railways is a complex socio political and economic decision. It is highly emotional one too.

Unlike airlines, railways is the common man's sole means of travel across long distances at an affordable price. For private companies, profit is the SOLE motive unlike for the government which balances the social needs with profits.

As seen elsewhere, monopoly always results in higher prices and when there is no competition, service deteriorates too.

Giving out land parcels to private players on such long lease is tantamount to abdicating it’s own responsibility. It is not as if the Railways does not have funds to develop stations. It may be loss making per se (there are many reasons for that) But it has lot of it’s subsidiary companies which have (or can raise) large amounts of cash for these projects. They have organizations like IRCTC, IRCON, CONCOR etc which have expertise in service, construction etc. and are capable of raising capital.

The sole reason for station privatization is to open up the lucrative passenger segment to Indian and foreign private companies. Opening this segment to private players will mean the end of social responsibility. massive fare hikes, reducing non profitable routes (or by running these by government subsidy) etc.

Any which ways you look at it, the government is offering a very sweet deal to private players with no thought about the common man. What the common man needs is an affordable, reliable and safe means of travel. For him, the 5-star ambience of the railway station is not the priority.

Time and again, the railway minister and other officials of IR keep talking​ of making railway stations like airports. Is this the priority? Rather, should this be the priority?

People who love airports and airlines will anyway travel by air or by car. They are NOT the target audience. The only way private operators will make money is by charging hefty "access fee" for everything. Look at the open loot happening in the airline industry.

The launch of the deluxe semi high speed Tejas express on the Mumbai-Goa route is another example of how much unnecessary publicity is given to what should be a routine event. The rail ministry was in tizzy repeatedly saying that this is a world class train experience similar to foreign travel.

What we do not need is to emulate everything “foreign” and embrace them blindly. India has its own unique needs and culture which need to be kept in mind. In any case, the lure and charm of everything foreign is long gone. We need a compassionate government that looks at passenger needs, not emulate foreign models.

These attempts must be stopped right now before the whole of Indian Railways is chopped off and handed over to private players on a platter.

IR is a jewel in our crown built by the sweat and blood of countless Indians for the greedy British. Let's not allow the new breed of greedy Indians ruin it.

Author email

benchmark.anuj@gmail.com