In India, where railways are the lifeline for mass transportation, recent train accidents emphasise a harsh and concerning truth.The Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express, Kanchanjunga Express, and the July 30th accident of Mumbai-Howrah near Barabamboo in Jharkhand, all highlight a worrisome pattern of derailments. This marks the third deadly crash in the last one month, which continues to raise worries about railway safety in the country. The horrors of the Balasore accident that left 291 dead is of course still fresh in our minds.
Unlike positions of power, positions of responsibility are supposed to come with accountability. So as far as railways are concerned, it’s not a linesman or a loco pilot, but the buck stops at the Railway Minister. The fact that he hasn’t even offered to resign shows a corrosion of accountability. He needs to be reminded that he is not entrusted with that position to oversee the installation of selfie booths with the PM’s photo, but to ensure the safety and well being of the common people.
A worrisome trend
The shocking disrepair and apathy visible in the railways is symptomatic of the misplaced priorities of the government and its trajectory of perpetuating rampant inequality. The reels and shorts of overcrowded trains and inhuman conditions of travel only show glimpses of this trajectory.
Indian Railways, stretching across 67,000 km and serving 2.3 crore passengers on a daily basis, is among the largest railway networks globally. In contrast, flights carried only 15.2 crore passengers in the entire year 2023. And yet, the railway system is reeling under neglect and safety obstacles, as evidenced by recent tragic accidents.
On July 30, the Howrah-Mumbai Mail train derailed near Barabamboo in Jharkhand, causing two fatalities and more than 20 injuries. This incident is one of the latest in a troubling series of train mishaps that have occurred over the past few months.
Similarly, the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express met with an accident on July 19 in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda district. The derailment resulted in the death of four individuals, while 31 others were injured, with many passengers in critical condition.
On June 17, the Sealdah-bound Kanchanjunga Express train crashed into a goods train, resulting in the deaths of nine individuals and approximately 30 injuries.
The Balasore tragedy on June 2 involved the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express colliding with the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and a stalled cargo train. The disaster resulted in 291 deaths and nearly 1,000 injuries, making it one of the deadliest train accidents in India’s history. This incident exposed not just operational failures but also a severe lack of safety oversight and infrastructure decay.
Financial mismanagement, safety neglect and shift in priorities
These accidents are not individual occurrences but instead are caused by larger systemic issues related to financial mismanagement and neglect. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India found a deficit of Rs 103,395 crore for track renewal, sparking worries about the financial position of the railway. Out of the allocated Rs 58,459 crore, only Rs 671.92 crore was used by the end of the fiscal year 2020-21, which represents merely 0.7% of the total amount needed.
The Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK), established to enhance safety measures, has been abused for unnecessary purchases like foot massagers and furniture instead of essential safety upgrades.
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The government’s focus on high-profile projects like the Vande Bharat Express has further diverted attention from critical safety concerns that need to be addressed. The Vande Bharat trains that are known for their opulence come with a hefty price. Even though a standard sleeper ticket for an express train from Delhi to Kanpur costs only Rs 300, the minimum fare for Vande Bharat is a steep Rs 1,115.
Local passenger trains are slowly being substituted by express trains like Vande Bharat, which come with features like air conditioning and Wi-Fi. Nevertheless, the requirements of the vast majority of travellers, especially those journeying on passenger and unreserved coach trains, have been overlooked. The obsession with luxury trains has resulted in fewer seats for general and non-AC compartments, disadvantaging ordinary people. From 2012 to 2022, there was a decrease in general section seats from 50% to 43%, a drop in non-AC sleeper compartments from 36% to 33%, and an increase in AC coaches from 15% to 24%. This redistribution of resources has led to overcrowding and higher risks for the less affluent.
Contrary to the claims of the government and the pomp around gati shakti, the average speed of freight trains in fact decreased from 27.2 km/hr in 2010-11 to 24.4 km/hr in 2019-20. According to a report by Times of India in 2023, the average speed of passenger trains in India has dropped by more than 5 km per hour compared to previous year. In the same way, average speed for freight trains has dropped by almost 6 km per hour.
Is this a deliberate attempt to privatise Railways?
Is it the same pattern of calculated neglect that precedes the push towards privatisation and also serves as its justification? From the systematic neglect of BSNL to the running down of Air India, haven’t we seen this pattern too many times, as they eventually make way for private hands? One wonders if the deliberate neglect and disrepair in the railways is symptomatic of a similar fate. After all, the intent has been clear for some time as one can find in the Bibek Debroy Committee.
The Committee (2015) in fact had recommended for privatisation within Indian Railways and proposed allowing private operators to run profitable operations — both freight and passenger trains — while the public sector struggles to maintain the required infrastructure. The committee also suggested the establishment of a separate public track-holding company to provide neutral access to railway tracks for private players.
Debroy cited global examples, particularly of the UK, wherein operations and infrastructure were separated with the former left to private players such that the government could solely focus on infrastructure. But the fallout of such privatisation has been disastrous.
Contradicting the hyperbole around private “efficiency”, the British rail network was plagued by crowded trains, cancelled services, and high fares till finally most of it was nationalised again in the middle of the pandemic when companies gave way owing to dwindling profits and the government had to run it to keep essential services afloat.
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The tryst with privatisation yielded similar experiences even in Singapore where the Mass Rail Transport was chequered with multiple high-profile rail disruptions under private hands which led to widespread public criticism. Finally the Singapore government had to step in to take control over the operating assets, nationalise its suburban trains and signalling systems because the main private operator had grossly underinvested in maintenance that had led to the frequent breakdowns leaving the passengers stranded and angry.
Debroy recommended that fares be left in the hands of the market which would ring the death knell for affordable travel. Privatisation would open the gates for introduction of additional charges for services like extra luggage or priority seating as is common in the aviation industry now, which will create barriers for many who cannot afford these luxuries. Of course it would also effectively end the provision of reservation for marginalised sections and decent employment opportunities for India’s youth.
There are ample reasons thereby to be alarmed by the recent spate of accidents and the state of safety provisions in Indian railways. There are concerns both about public safety, as also the future of this affordable lifeline.
Nancy Pathak is associated with the Centre for Financial Accountability, New Delhi.