We have heard every year the story of how: The Indian Railways have been turned into a profitable organization from a subsidized organization that too making more than 2000 crores in profit, because of Laloo Prasad Yadav.. who has contemplated heavy before (and still) on getting some university to hand him over a Doctorate.
But what is the truth in it.. Numbers shown in balance sheets are more so becoming unreal after each economic recession when companies which have shown big numbers every year suddenly seem to fall off the line or if they manage to stick on they remove 'Tissue paper' from their monthly purchase orders to cut costs.
So, are there similarities like Enron, satyam in Indian railways, or are they really making that money ?
I guess they do make the money, though some of the numbers might be exxagerated.. but they are definitely making the money at the cost of "NOT upgrading" any or all of the services, cleanliness at stations, helping commuters with city or town transport into-outof railway stations.. and importantly without upgrading the rail systems and ticketing systems itself.
It is 2009, and India is still fore-seeing its first bullet train far away in 2015. Better services or food / toilet / waiting room facilities in railway stations is still a long or even unforeseen dream. All you can do today is go 15 mins early to catch the train and get out of the train in a station and hurry out of the station in 15 mins.. If you try to look for waiting rooms, night-sacks, nice clean toilets, or even a decent honest commute to somewhere and back, you are going to find all things that are wrong with the railways.
Recently I went 1 hr early to send off my fiance at the station. She was going from chennai to hyderabad. We found rats, we found so much dirty linen strewn around, no dustbins at regular distances along the platform, biscuit wrappers and coffee cups strewn around as if there was just some shooting in the station and everybody threw it all off and ran.. it was so much so dirty, abandoned, .. and the proper word would be "UNCARED FOR"..
At one instance I was seeing an fully plush A/C coach just standing on the dirties rail tracks possible on earth... with shit, rats, some sewage too, all on the track... definitely smelling something so bad but I wasn't feeling it because probably we Indians are all used to such smells always.
Anybody, who had a few bucks more, and travels to other countries in the world, would prefer to avoid going by train because of these more than for the sake of a sign of status. I was thinking so already to save money for travelling by flights rather than go to such places and get demotivated and un-attitudinal.
It is by allowing all these "uncared for" stuff that the railways is making its money and showing off in the centers of governance as an achievement.
