Rail Populism – More of the Same?

New Delhi: Prime Minister on Saturday announced rail projects worth Rs 16,000 crore for his home state of Gujarat, where elections are scheduled in November. 

The NDA government in 2016 had discontinued the 92-year-old practice of presenting a separate rail budget in Parliament. The justification then had been that the public transporter needed to be wrenched out from the culture of populism of the past. 

Six years down the line, it is a case of being more of the same. Railways Ministers have been robbed of their hour of glory in Parliament, which has been transferred to powerful political leaders who make big bang announcements from public platforms now and then - usually during the election campaign phases. 

Among the rail projects announced by the Prime Minister includes the inauguration of the 357 km long new Palanpur Madar section of the Dedicated Freight Corridor; gauge conversion of the 166 km long Ahmedabad-Botad section and electrification of the 81 km long Palanpur Mitha section. 

The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of the Surat, Udhna, Somnath and Sabarmati stations. 

Ferentic work has been in progress on the construction of the high-speed station at Surat, while plans are to conduct a trial run on the  47 km stretch connecting Surat to Bilimora in 2026. Plans are to start commercial operations on the 352 km long Gujarat portion in 2027. 

To recall, the Prime Minister had travelled on a seaplane during the campaign phase of the previous 2017 elections and had also taken a ride on a small section of the Ahmedabad metro. The seaplane has reportedly been in repairs in the last two years, while the Ahmedabad metro project has also not made substantial progress. 

The point is this: Rail Populism has not altogether been eliminated. MPs and MLAs are no longer making demands for halt stations or new rail lines in their constituencies. But election-bound states have often ended up getting a meatier share of rail projects. 

For instance, in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections earlier this year, the NDA leaders had announced a big clutch of rail projects including the 83 km long gauge conversion project from Pilibhit to Shahjehanpur, a 66 km new line from Utretia to Rae Bareli, the 40 km line from Ghazipur to Annihar and the 188 km electrification project from Ayodhya to Varanasi. 

Several new metro lines had also been announced. This was despite the fact that UP figures among the highest rail density projects - with an 8808 route kilometre network. Gujarat figures high up the list as well - with 5301 route kilometres.

While earlier railway ministers had struggled with funds and had been accountable for their decisions to the then Planning Commission, Finance Ministry and the Parliament, the ministry's external and internal controls on spending have largely vanished after the discontinuation of the rail budget. 

"The budget document should provide for a separate statement providing details of the financial health of the Railways", former Chairman Railway Board Vivek Sahai suggests. 

In past years, rail revenues have grown at an average of 2%, while Capital Expenditure has increased approximately by 5% - which has increased the financial burden of the Railways. 

"The government, however, has pumped in investments with the idea of long-term gains", former Railways officer Sudhanshu Mani said. 

In past years, concerns about state-level disparities in rail network density have remained. The five Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar together account for approximately half of the country's total rail network of 67,956 route kilometres, while states such as Odisha, Haryana, Telangana, Kerala and Chhattisgarh have lagged far behind, official records show. 

The case can hardly be that all states must be at par in terms of rail network density. "Decisions on the launch of new rail projects or lines also depend on factors such as the availability of land or the state's industrial development - as also the state of rail finances", an official said.