For Highways, Against Railways

Good fare in the Sunday columns: Both Tavleen Singh (here) and Swaminathan Aiyar (here) have expressed serious misgivings with Nandan Nilekani’s ID card project. Yeah, let us kill this stupid idea.

I also enjoyed a travelogue on the Konkan Railway – and decided to write today’s post on railways. Mamata Banerjee’s "socialist" railway budget is fresh news. And the Konkan Railway is the biggest rail project in independent India. Yet, how important are railways in the modern world? To be more precise, since our railways are so outdated, and so badly managed, would we not be better off focusing on highways?

At the outset, let us note that railways came to India in the mid-nineteenth century – that is, fifty years before the automobile was invented. Or seventy years before the Ford model-T and perhaps a century before universal automobile ownership in the West.

Further, let us also note that India in 2009 is witnessing an automobile revolution. This industry may be flagging in the USA, in Europe and Japan, but in India it is growing at a rate higher than the national average. Go to any city or town and you will see cars, cars and more cars. I wrote about India’s automobile revolution in a Mint column some months ago.

I live within shouting distance of a Konkan Railway station. It is like all the other stations of this line, as described in the travelogue: quiet and sleepy. Not many people use these trains. But go to the local bus stand and see the activity. We now have a new bus stand in Canacona, and there are over 20 shops in the complex doing brisk business. There is only one kiosk in the railway station, and I doubt it generates much profit.

This itself indicates that a new coastal expressway is required. The better-off people would use personal transport; the lesser-off people would use modern buses. Modern buses on modern highways can outcompete airways in distances upto 500 kms. They would outcompete our slow railways even over 1000 kms. In my book, therefore, our State railways are not worth much. We need good highways, modern buses and trucks, and more personal transport. This is the transportation solution. Not railways.

The Konkan Railway is actually of no use to the Konkani, who uses the horrible NH 17 for all his commutes. Most of the trains on the line are “through” trains, from Delhi or Mumbai going down to Kerala. It is also an interesting fact that the Konkan Railway earns very little from passenger fares; most of its earnings are from freight, especially that of ferrying loaded trucks from Mumbai to Kerala. Yes, the railways carry loaded trucks! Why? Because the “notional highway” is totally screwed-up. Check out the Konkan Railway website here.

So let us not worry too much about Laloo or Mamata at Rail Bhavan. Rather, let us focus all attention on Kamal D Nutt, now the minister for roads and highways. He must be goaded to perform.