Rail Analysis India March 2018 Digital Magazine | Page 124
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Track & Infrastructure
124 | Article
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BEST INITIATIVES OF INDIAN RAILWAYS SINCE 2014
I
ndian Railways has been progressing for a long time in terms
of technology, business practices and services to passengers.
However, if we notice the development of Railways since
independence till NDA led by Modi came to power, most of them
are organic in nature, where the progress is one step forward
from what it has been happening in the preceding years. However,
the dispensation of NDA led by Modi introduced many path-breaking
developmental stories in Indian Railways.
Thiruvannathapuram S
Ramakrishnan
Consultant and Researcher
Indian Institute of Management,
Ahmedabad
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The average speed of passenger services of Indian Railways has
remained at about 55 kmph although trains such as Rajdhani have been
running at an average speed of about 85 kmph. Indian Railways for the
first time is leapfrogging to High Speed Rail, which will run between
Ahmedabad and Mumbai at an average speed of about 250 kmph and is
expected to be commissioned in 2023. India did not initiate HSR till this
government took a conscious decision to develop HSR with Japan aid,
even though the first HSR was introduced in Japan as early as 1964.
Based on the initiation of construction of HSR, if some people want to
paint Indian Railways as elitist, they are mistaken. For the first time,
Indian Railways introduced Mail / Express trains with complete state
of the art second class coaches at affordable prices (much cheaper
than state government buses and omni buses) and named them as
Antyodaya Express. It is generally believed that the comfortable travel
is the exclusive domain of AC classes. The introduction of Antyodaya
Express has broken that notion. Given that the second class serves
people who cannot afford PRS classes and those who cannot get PRS
tickets. About 60% of Indian Railway travel is by second class and hence
this move brings back dignity to second class travel.
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