A runaway train!

Mail Today carried a report in today’s newspaper on the extravagant expenditure proposal of the railways to purchase train sets at costs almost ten times that of modern high speed trains recently introduced on the Indian railway network. Twenty train sets costing over Rs 550 crores each are slated for purchase in an attempt to inject an element of modernity to the railway network.

Going in for a train set costing over Rs 550 crores as against a formed german design train costing Rs 50 crores with no attendant advantages other than perhaps a better photo op for the travellers can at best be called foolish, unless of course there are pressing reasons that are not so apparent.

It is also unfortunate that mere injection of new technology is regarded as modernization in the railway system. New technology has to be synchronized with changes in contractual and decision making processes and also training and recruitment systems for the staff who have to deal with it. It is indeed sad that even an organization like the COFMOW, the avowed aim of which was modernization of workshops confined their role to that of a machine procurer, without any appreciation of what modernization is all about. The trend continues till today and half baked modernization efforts are continuing with impunity in almost all departments of the railways. 

IT for the sake of IT has also created much havoc within the confines of the railway machinery. In the garb of a semblance of IT, manual systems are continuing in parallel almost everywhere thereby denying the advantages that are inherent if IT is implemented in true letter and spirit. 

Perhaps these are symptoms of an organization gone astray or a runaway train clueless about its next port of call.

Amen!

Crumbling Verticals!

The battle for supremacy amongst various services of the railways witnesses new lows with each passing day. That such battles have no relevance for the well being of the organization or otherwise is fairly evident, yet issues and projects are regularly conceived and launched for petty personal as well as departmental gains.  Often the gains though not for the organization are immense as appears to be the case with new found penchant for train sets to be procured at costs, considered exorbitant by even western standards. Now for some time there shall be territorial disputes between those who espouse the cause of train sets for personal as well as departmental gains and those whose territory appears to be shrinking. The saga of growth and development of the railway system in our nation is heavily interspersed with such internal battles regularly played on different turfs by different groups, generally for unethical causes or causes beyond comprehension.

The nine verticals of the railways are the bane of this organization that once had a great affixed to its name. Till the railways crossed the two hundred million mark in the early eighties, the departmental verticals suited the organization, perhaps because of the easily manageable load both in terms of freight as well as the passenger traffic. During the following three decades, the load went up by almost six times, without any substantial inputs in terms of infrastructure or the human resource. This led to the ongoing mad scramble for scarce resources with attendant ramifications. Simultaneously the rapid rise in the number of officers led to diminishing of powers, authority and territory with consequent reduction in self esteem and pride. Lack of self esteem and pride in oneself is the reason behind the undignified conduct of the officer class in general in dealing with their subordinates that one is witness to day in and day out. Another glaring symptom is the crumbling infrastructure and the pride that once was the hallmark of a railwaymen.  

A vicious bind is what we find ourselves in now. The archaic structure throws up mediocrity for whom even the thought of structural or systemic changes is beyond comprehension. The mediocrity at apex levels taking solace in the routine day to day operations is the culprit behind the mess we find ourselves in at present.

Abhimanyu broke the chakravyuh of the kauravas during Mahabharata. A modern day Abhimanyu will lead this organization out of the morass that it finds itself in despite being in monopoly in a sellers market.

With hope we live!

Amen!