Opinion: Stop daydreaming about bullet trains, we are not capable of running it

Our apathy towards train passengers is because they are the cattle class and their deaths don’t matter to the nation.

New Delhi ,Nov 21: The train  accident on Sunday near Kanpur that killed over 145 and injured around 200 is another reminder of the poor upkeep  of our rail safety systems.  However, there is no outcry over the accident and the Opposition, which is busy with note ban politics, didn’t ask for resignation of rail minister Suresh Prabhu – a departure from the theatrics of gunning for the minister in wake of any such incident.  Neither did Arvind Kejriwal rush to call them a martyr or announce a crore to each of those killed in the accident. Why so? The simple reason for this, in my view, is today’s Opposition knows too well that they created a mess of entire rail networks by not paying heed to infrastructure and modernisation of the world’s largest railway networks comprising 115,000 kms of track over a route of 67,312 km  and 7,112 stations.

Though the British had brought rail networks in India as an instrument of exploitation of the Indian resources, but by the time they left our country we had good networks which became lifeblood of Indian transport system and gradually it became India’s largest employer too, providing jobs to millions of people.

The Delhi-Howrah route on which the tragedy happened has been prone to accidents as it is one of the busiest routes with aging infrastructure. As per National Crimes Records Bureau, a total of 27,581 people died in rail-related accidents in India. This includes deaths occurring at level crossings and other freak events.

Some of the recent accidents because of derailment

 Derailment has been the biggest cause of train accidents. It suggests we have thoroughly ignored the maintenance of our tracks.

Around 40 people were killed when Dehradun-Varanasi Janata Express derailed in Rae Bareli on March 20, 2015.

Diva Junction-Sawantvadi passenger train derailment left 20 dead and 100 injured on May 4, 2014

On August 4, 2015, 25 were killed when bogies of Kamayani Express running between Mumbai and Varanasi derailed and fell into Machak River in Harda district of Madhya Pradesh.

On May 26, Gorakhdham Express rammed into a stationary goods train, killing around 25 people and leaving 100 injured.

Why it happens

We couldn’t keep the pace with time in modernising the railways. Powers-that-be used it to propagate their populist agenda completely ignoring the infrastructural aspect of it.  Our tracks are heavily congested; we have scores of unmanned crossings and aging tracks. So, when over 145 people were killed in sleep, we just passed it on as a regular mishap and our political leaders know too well why it did happen.

We can’t keep our tracks well-oiled but dream about running bullet trains. It’s day-dreaming.

Apathy against train passengers

Imagine the scale of reaction if over 145 people had died in air crash. Our apathy towards train passengers is because they are the cattle class and their deaths don’t matter to the nation. Compensation running into few lakhs even if paid in disbanded notes would make up for the loss. This is why people in power rush to announce the compensation before anything else.

Way forward

And to overhaul the entire network, Suresh Prabhu is the best suited leader. He not only rejected the populism by doing away with the recent tradition of no-fare hike but also resisted the  announcement of new trains . He has taken a practical approach and has the backing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who himself is giving so much thrust on modernisation and through technology. In nutshell, the current dispensation has got everything to fix the chinks in Indian Railways and provide its passengers a safe and successful journey. Now, I would like to request the union rail minister to first work on the basics and then dream about running a bullet train in our country. I think, with such a poor and aging infrastructure, even semi-high speed trains are a big risk.