NEW DELHI: The year 2020 showed India a glimpse of what life would be like without trains.
As the coronavirus shutdown was announced on March 24, the Railways closed all its services for the first time in its 167-year history.
People stranded across the country, who generally looked to the railroads to get them home, were left without their lifeline. Some, like the thousands of migrant workers, took to the streets choosing to walk to their destinations.
As the Railroads used their resources to transport essential items across the country, billions of tickets were canceled during the summer vacation, something unheard of in railroad history.
It was on May 1 when the wheels of the trains began to rattle again. This time, to bring migrant workers home. Between May 1 and August 30, railroads transported 63.15 such workers home in 23 states on more than 4,000 Shramik Special trains, not only providing great relief to stranded migrants, but also waiting to others that his life line was down, but not out.
However, it was the Shramik Special trains that saw the railways being criticized by opposition parties for the fares charged to migrant workers. While the railways said they did not charge workers a penny and spent more than Rs 2 billion on their transportation, the policy on the issue continued.
“What do the trains mean to me? They mean hope, joy and also a sense of routine. For 25 years, I have taken the same route back to Bihar to be with my family after months of being away from them. That’s what that they mean to me, they take me to my family.
“Every year, I would book tickets at the same time to go home. This year it didn’t happen and I feel a sense of loss that something that was part of life could easily be taken away,” said Jitender Kumar, a security guard. working in Noida.
Currently, the railways are operating 1,089 special train services, while the Kolkata metro operated 60% of its services, the Mumbai suburbs operated 88% and 50% of the Chennai suburban services were in operation. The president and executive director of the Board of Railways, VK Yadav, agreed that it was a difficult year for the national carrier, but also highlighted how it innovated and used the crisis as an opportunity.
“This year has been one of guts and victories for Indian Railways. Faced with unprecedented and daunting challenges related to Covid, Indian railways Not only has it been able to keep the national supply chain running and move millions of people back to their homes in the most adverse circumstances, it has also been able to tap into the potential of its workforce, which has come up with innovative solutions. ” Yadav told PTI.
Although passenger movement decreased, resulting in an estimated loss of 87 percent compared to last year, the Railways made drastic changes in their cargo movement, introducing parcel services, transporting essential items such as milk, medicines and even fans.
The innovation was realizing that if railways couldn’t move passengers freely, they could move cargo.
Business Development Units (BDU) were established at the level of the Railway Board, Zonal and Divisional Railway. BDU multidisciplinary teams have reached out to clients to attract new business. It also introduced fixed-hour parcel services to provide reliable services to couriers and e-commerce companies.
The railways also launched eight Kisan rail services to enable farmers to ship their products across the country with higher speed and lower cost.
With all its focus on freight movement, Railroad freight recovered in September posting a record 102 million tonne (MT) freight, which is the highest freight for the month of September in any year. The momentum in freight cargo continued and growth of 15% and 9% was obtained in the subsequent months of October and November, respectively.
With passenger trains off the tracks, railroads doubled the speed of freight trains from 24 kmph a year ago to 46 kmph, which is half the time it takes to ship products. It also completed over 350 major critical and long-overdue bridge and road works.
While the year saw no major accidents, the Railways family endured the pain of 30,000 employees infected with coronavirus and saw more than 700 frontline workers take their last breath.
While he did not transport passengers across the country during the holidays, he did send thousands of migrant workers home with their loved ones. While it did not make the 18 state-of-the-art trains, the railroads produced more than 5,000 Covid care cars. Its production units complemented the government’s efforts by producing masks, disinfectants, and even overalls for use by railroad employees.
“The railroads used Covid as a challenge and have been able to usher in unprecedented growth in infrastructure development, innovation, expansion of network capacity, freight diversification and transparency issues. The railroads have this crisis as a opportunity to lay the foundation for future development and next level of travel experience for passengers, “said Yadav.
Looking ahead, he said plans have been made to meet the infrastructure and traffic requirements through 2050.
A 2030 National Rail Plan (NRP) has been developed with a view to developing infrastructure by 2030 to meet traffic requirements through 2050. Based on the NRP, a Vision 2024 document was prepared to develop infrastructure by 2024 to improve participation railways in freight transport to more than 40 percent and to meet traffic needs until 2030.
However, there are two key issues on which Ferrocarriles disagrees not only with its own leaders and unions, but also with political parties.
While in 2020 the size of the Railway Board was reduced and reoriented along functional lines, the decision to unify the eight organized services of Group ‘A’ into a single service under the Indian Railway Administration Service (IRMS) it has generated much criticism. . Modalities for the recruitment of officials at IRMS and the consolidation of existing services are being developed.
Another problem over the Railways’ decision to introduce 151 modern passenger trains operated by private operators on 109 routes has resulted in both unions and opposition parties accusing the national carrier of selling national assets.
While Kumar does not understand the implications of the cadre reorganization or the management of private trains, he does know nonetheless that envisioning a life without trains meant moments away from loved ones.
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