An Indecisive Indian

Dr. Sudhanshu Mani There is one arena where Indian Railways (IR) has attained absolute, hyper-velocity godhood, effortlessly bypassing the laws of space and time: the legendary railway meeting . It is a majestic, wood-panelled ecosystem where time lies frozen in a perpetual red-taped coma, yet every officer somehow arrives late, the delay increasing in perfect proportion to rank. Around a massive teak table that has comfortably outlived governments, policies and certainly the issues under discussion, assemble the bigwigs. Standing in attendance is a battalion of peons, bearing endless trays of syrupy Sarkari chai, soggy Britannia biscuits and meticulously counted roasted almonds, except for the senior-most officers who, through administrative evolution, enjoy unlimited grazing rights. Together they debate why a train that left Dibrugarh sometime during the previous geological era has mysteriously vanished from the Control Chart and is yet to arrive anywhere, though two committees rem...

  Dr. Sudhanshu Mani I recently wrote in The Hindu BusinessLine on the much-touted “52 Reforms in 52 Weeks” announcement by the Ministry of Railways in March 2026. The article is referenced at the end. The essence of what I wrote was this: Many of the so-called reforms of Indian Railways (IR), viz., cleaner general coaches, streamlined linen management, revised ticketing and boarding rules, specialised freight wagons, cargo terminals, startup innovation portals, AI applications for non-core activities, digitisation of claims, etc., are useful initiatives but largely incremental improvements rather than transformative changes. The promise of bringing cleanliness in general coaches on par with higher classes is welcome, though it raises the awkward question of why basic hygiene was ever treated as a class privilege. Freight reforms similarly arrive with fanfare, yet rail’s modal share remains stubbornly low despite years of policy tinkering. Technology initiatives, startup funding, ...

F or a state barely 600 kilometres long, Kerala faces a transportation challenge that few others in India do. Its towns and cities flow almost seamlessly into one another, creating what is often described as a linear urban corridor stretching from Thiruvananthapuram in the south to Kannur and beyond in the north. Yet, despite its high population density and intense inter-city travel, the state's transport backbone continues to rely largely on a nineteenth-century railway alignment and increasingly congested highways. In an article published in The Week on 5 June 2026, I examined Kerala's pressing need for a North-South rapid rail corridor, reviewed the rise and fall of the SilverLine proposal, assessed the limitations of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) alternative, and discussed the Kerala High Speed Rail (KHSR) proposal as a possible way forward. https://www.theweek.in/news/biz-tech/2026/06/05/beyond-silverline-reimagining-keralas-north-south-mobility.amp.htm...