Train 18 memoirs: Our doubts are traitors

The core team had, by this time, chosen itself. There would be many more to join this core but at this time it was not a big group. Everyone in this group was all animated and passionate about the possibility of building a unique first of its kind train. All of them were raring to go. But many of them, like the people Russel had classified as wiser, had some doubt or the other. Let me take you through them chronologically as they appeared and as they disappeared. But before I do that, let me narrate a small incident.

We had been receiving many complaints from Mumbai area about jamming of sliding doors in EMUs. On a day during those early months, I went to the Furnishing shop to check this out first hand. There I was, with Babu and  Chandrasekhar, the Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer (Design), Nagesh, the Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer (Design), both competent officers, and a host of shop officers and staff, trying our hands at moving the sliding door. The problem basically lied in poor quality of doors from trade but our exercise to get to the bottom of this problem was almost comic; all we did was to keep moving one door after the other and watching it move as if it was some great engineering experiment. I noticed one oldish shop floor worker watching us bemused. As I grandly concluded that this or that supplier needed to be banished, and prepared to go away, this man approached me. He said, matter of factly, “Morning. Good to see you visit the shop floor, GM sir. But moving sliding doors is not your work. If you this, all these officers will keep you engaged in doing something like this and tomorrow you will be moving window shutters up and down.” Thrusting a paper in my hand, he continued, “This is your job”. And then he left us with me holding this paper. Drawn in an amateurish manner was sketch of a train; a train with aerodynamically-profiled nose and a streamlined contour of coaches obviously moving at a great speed.

I looked at the sketch and moved to my car. Chandrasekhar smiled. I looked again at it in the car. Babu smiled. I looked at it again in my office when I was alone. The man had shown me the mirror. He had shown all the officers of ICF, past and present the mirror. The image has stuck in my mind. I lost that piece of paper somewhere and later when we were progressing with the project, I tried to locate this gentleman. We could not; nobody remembered the incident. This incident remained almost surrealistic in my consciousness; I never encountered him again and that remains a great regret. I only hope this dreamer gent gets to read this here.

Coming back to the doubts, the primary doubt, the king doubt was in respect of the sanction. A summary of what I was told, “You may be an all-powerful GM but you need a sanction from Railway Board to take up this project. We are all gung ho, sir, but how do we do go ahead without the sanction from Board?” Well, handling this imponderable and addressing the uncertainty came easy to me. Undeniably, I too was spending some sleepless nights as our train set file was meandering through the formidable labrynthine babudom in the ministry. Yet, foolhardy that I was, I told them in a cocksure manner that it was my job to get the sanction and I would definitely secure it.

The ministry, steeped in babudom, red tape, jealousy, greed and pure inaction was, however, proving to be a tough nut to crack. Scepticism and negativity ruled. We were running into officers who were consumed by pretensions, vanity, jealousy and unfortunately, stark stupidity.

First there was this question of neutralizing the lobby which was strongly antagonistic as it thought that this project would hamper the attempts to import. Their game plan was to exclude ICF from any roadmap for train sets for IR, even if import did not go through...


(content deleted to avoid libel but would sure be a part of the book)


….as they were convinced that it was beyond ICF to design and manufacture a modern train set. This officer would tell them, “Ye GM sirf nautanki wala hai (This GM is only drama). Is it a joke to build a modern train set which we have not even been able to import? Let ICF go ahead and be sure, their product would be such a lame duck, it would die its own death.”  In hindsight, I can't help recalling Ghalib here who had covered it for me so well:

De wo jis qadar zillat ham hansi mein talenge, 

Bare   ashna    nikla    un    ka    pasban   apna 
Ta kare na ghammazi kar liya hai dushman ko 
dost ki shikayat mein ham ne hamzaban apna

(It turns out that their sentry is my close friend, so I will laugh it off, however much they may humiliate me. To stop my detractor poisoning the mind of my love, I have made him an ally in cribbing about my love in one voice)

If the above lines describe my shenanigans with the import lobby, what I would now narrate is in another mould from the same ghazal:

Hum kahan ke daana the kis hunar mein yakta the
besabab   hua   Ghalib   dushman   aasman   apna

(When was I so learned and which skill was I so accomplished in? Without reason, the heaven has become my foe!)

There was this group which was seemingly and loosely in favour of the project but they were proving to be more formidable adversaries. The Board member, who headed this group, was technically the one to decide the issue, and he had...


(content deleted to avoid libel but would sure be a part of the book)


…But reverence, no sir! Whatever be the reason, whether this gentleman was blocking the project out of chronic hatred towards me or general dislike for ICF, I would perhaps never know.

We had to, meanwhile, keep tackling the middle-level officers, most of who, unfortunately, did not have a view. No surprises there. Perfect babus, after all. Trivedi, Vavre and Srinivas, as the situation required, kept pursuing them to move the files with favourable, or at least not unfavourable, comments, such that the project did not take a backseat. As for some other Board members who were in the loop, the things were more or less in control. I would make it a point to call on them for a cup of tea whenever I was in Delhi and I had ensured that they were not opposed to the project even as they sat on the fence.

The question of our constant battles with Board came up again and again with Babu. Once during one of these tête-à-tête, he smiled and observed that he had seen confrontation between the GM and Board many times but the present one would easily take the cake. I thought about it and smiled too. But Babu also added that, however, ICF had never taken a project of this significance to Board earlier.

We had done our bit to present our case to the Board, from minions to the top. Meanwhile, this was March of 2107 and all preliminary work was going on in right earnest at ICF as the team had reposed faith in me. They would perhaps talk in hushed tones but they were confident that the GM would fetch the sanction. For all my bravado, I was tense. Sometime in the last week of March, days before the Pink Book of IR works was to be released, I learnt that the project had been turned down; ironically, primarily because it did not find support of the department which was to be the owner of the train. I was out of the country. I was bewildered and clueless. It seemed fruitless to engage and try to convince people who could not rise above their petty jealousies, biases and greed. I now knew that there was only one way forward, go to the A.K. Mital, CRB, with folded hands. I had met him many times earlier and he was generally in agreement that ICF would be able to execute the project but had been telling me to convince other Board members.

I had worked as Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Bangalore when Mital (Bless his soul, he is no more!) was the GM of South Western Railway. I rushed to Delhi and met Mital, uninvited at his home, as it was an off day. I asked him if he thought that ICF could do this train. He said yes but added that he was being held back by other members of the Board. I pleaded, “Sir, you are the Chairman so no one  can hold you back. You say that Sudhanshu Mani and ICF can do it. So please let other Board members go boil their heads. And sir, let Board import what they want, give me the sanction for just two trains and I will make it at a cost one third of the imported price.” Seeing some embarrassed discomfort, I promised something which I knew was impossible, “Give me the go ahead and I promise that we would work the seats of our pants off to make sure that you are not disappointed. The first train will be launched by you in June 2018 before you retire in July2018.” That seemed to kindle him a little, and as he was still dilly-dallying in his mind, I added, “And sir, I am going to grab your feet now and not release them till you give me this sanction”.

There are times when killing your vanity, for a larger cause, would win you the day. Mital merely gave an unsure smile and waived me off. I left and took the next flight to Chennai.

ICF had the sanction letter before I landed at Chennai. 

This was the first day of April if I remember correctly.

So the formal sanction for the project was received in April 2017. The next day, I called all key team members and told them that we were all set. Although the excitement was palpable, it perhaps did not match my own because the team had already assumed that the sanction would come. I did tell them the story of yesterday and my predicament. In any case, my emotions and my drama of the day were difficult to relive. I could see that the theatre I was trying to create for them would be a bit inscrutable to them; after all, they were already living the conjury for some months.

What followed was the emergence of the next doubt. The team decided that we would design and manufacture a train set for 180 km/h speed capability with modern features, to make it the very first and the very best in India. Some of them said that they were greatly enthused and that they were certainly capable but they had not done anything at this scale ever. Their doubt: what if they failed; ICF would have spent some 200 crores and if the train did not work well, who the scapegoat would be. It was time to invoke some superior intelligence.

I quoted  Lucio in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, “Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win  by fearing to attempt”

And as Allama Iqbal said, “Girte hain shahsawar hi maidaan-e-jung mein, wo tifl kya gire jo ghutno ke bal chale” (Only the mounted soldiers fall in the battlefield, what fall would a toddler who crawls on his knees take?

I said, “Friends, you are going to be mounted soldiers, the days of your crawling on your feet are over. Join the battle and if we succeed, if we are able to turn out this modern train set for the country, the credit would be all yours. But if we fail, I would take the rap. What will they be able to do to this old man on the verge of retirement?” I smiled and added, ”From now on, I reiterate, we’d follow some simple credo. Total interconnection in the team, no skimping on praise for your colleagues whenever due, no excuses so and always own up; every mistake you make would be a new learning, it would make you a better engineer. Remember, we are treading where eagles dare so failure should be the least of your worries”

In the course of the next year and more we saw this working like an augury.

Having rendered the fears and doubts evanescent, we had to settle issues which looked like imponderables due to lack of clarity. What would be our mode to develop this train?

Hitherto, all the new designs of rolling stock, be it locomotives or coaches, have come to India through what is the Tansfer of Technology(ToT) route. I have been a part of the process for most of these ToTs, be it EMD or ABB locos, LHB coaches etc. You engage a big company abroad, you order a large number at great cost and pay a huge fee for technology. The contracted company then delivers some stocks first, then some knocked down kits which you assemble here and later you start your own manufacture, say after three to four years. Does it work well? In spite of all the ToT, what we manufacture today after many years, at times decades, since the delivery of the prototype from abroad rarely meets the same quality standard set by the prototype or initial supplies. Why? Because technology is not merely a set of documents like drawings, specifications, test plans, vendor qualification protocol, validation test sheets or class room training and meetings. Moreover, even these documents are not received in a seamless manner and the training on the same is usually pretty disjointed.

A technology is a creation. It lives in the mind and heart of the creator. The design philosophy is fostered and nurtured over decades and periodically employed for a new product, in part or in full? Can you transfer that? Can you relocate the essence of the minds of the original designers in howsoever eager but rookie minds without a gradual perseverance and tapasya? Can you simply bequeath the engineering creativity and inventiveness to an alien organization? By what means can you detach and reattach the crux of engineering design which emerged from a mix of lots of brain and not a little heart and gut? You cannot. Period. You can at best acquire some know-how and limited know-why. But not the essence

If it were an absolutely novel area like high-speed train, I would understand the necessity of some form of a ToT arrangement but that too in the format of technology development jointly but ToT in areas where we do have some skill already! Sounds a bit wacky.

Having said that about the concept of ToT, let me add something. Lest it be taken as a ball of wax condemnation of the concept, I must put it in the right perspective. I am not asinine enough to condemn all ToT as a disabling vehicle; we have indeed learnt a lot via the ToTs we have gone through on IR. My take is simple. In areas where the gap between the requirement and our expertise and capability is large, there is no alternative but to contract an arrangement for acquiring technology; there can be many models but the underlying idea should be to keep it meaningful; learning not only for doing a proficient job but also for imbibing enough of the design and manufacturing philosophy to equip ourselves for future expansion of the concepts in new designs. On the other hand, in areas where this gap is not so large, we have to challenge ourselves without the need to engage a ToT provider. Ask ourselves if we can take up the project on our own, knowing that the task would be arduous and demanding. If yes, then a ToT arrangement in this area could prevent us from learning something new and at times actually lead us to unlearn what we already know. To that extent, such a ToT arrangement is a disabler, an unnecessary crutch which vitiates, undermines and cripples.

Besides the sheer impracticability of transferring the core philosophy, the know-why, you cannot eliminate a certain level of smugness and even disdain from the attitude of the foreign engineers assigned to facilitate ToT. It is a natural human trait that cannot be banished by any reasoning, whether in a contract or otherwise. Personnel of the manufacturer engaged to provide, the so called teachers and facilitators, approach technical interactions with a certain degree of arrogance. I don’t blame them. If we do not exude confidence ourselves, why would a firangi size us up as substantial? Allama Iqbal has summed up this matter of human heart and mind so well; try as you may, you cannot pour out all your heart or mind at the same time in any job:

Achchha  hai  dil  ke  saath  rahe  pasban-e-aql 

lekin   kabhi   kabhi   ise   tanha   bhi  chhod de

(It is good to have your mind rule your heart, but do leave your heart alone at times.)

There is of course another angle. No ToT contract is free of the promise of future procurement. The provider has a vested interest to enable you only so far; as far as to meet the contractual requirement, which can never be so iron-clad that it would cover all finer aspects. They are, after all, going to be, or at least hoping to be, your supplier for some equipment and components for a long time to come. This is the reason that we have been bereft of insights into the core design philosophy of the rolling stock we acquired.

I always felt that it was time IR engineers came of age and started doing greater things themselves. When you take it upon yourself to do a project from scratch, all the know-how and know-why would be entirely yours. The complete ownership of drawings and specifications developed in the process would lie with you; you will not struggle with cryptic drawings with important parts or pieces of information blanked out by the provider. You would be the creator, the provider as well as the doer. For the first time on IR, we would be the master of the Intellectual property rights (IPR) of a new major rolling stock and that was bound to be of great significance, now and in future.

This was the quest of the heart that I kept rebounding of the key team members at ICF when the project was still not sanctioned. Most of the team members had had some exposure to ToT projects. They had their views on the subject. But when I explained to them, at times one to one, the benefits of doing it ourselves in toto, I would see the sense of value, and certainly pride, descending in them. Even as the sanction was still awaited, the team members were adequately primed and aligned.

So settling the doubts about the likely model of our project, I proclaimed, “Friends, we will create our own technology. Good or bad, it would be entirely our baby from day one. And we will do it well. We can only improve after that, not go down.” With belief in our minds, pride in our bosoms and hope in our eyes, we all agreed that that we would make this train from concept to delivery totally on our own, without the condescending crutches of a shameful ToT.

As we braced ourselves with our job cut out for us, the last of the major imponderables did crop up. Some of the officers told me that a project of this magnitude took some 36 to 42 months from concept (or receipt of the Letter of Acceptance) to actual turn out of the prototype. This was actually the norm which could be determined from any rolling stock major of the world; we knew it from the delivery schedules quoted by them in bids submitted for a recent failed tender for train sets by Board. So these team members added that, there we were in April 17, and by the time the de novo design would be completed and the manufacture would be just about to start, it would be December of 2018, the time for me to retire. I was giving mere 21 months to do this work which was impossible, they lamented. I had to look at these questions and tell them what I adduced to avert the likelihood of the team getting left in the lurch, stranded, after my retirement

>> With the leadership change, would this still be taken to fruition?

>> The new leadership may quiz us as to why we had foolishly taken this project upon ourselves, why not more and more of the same?

>> Who ever asked you to be the vanguard on IR, why this risk?

>> Not much water has still flown down the Adyar river yet, why not drop this nonsense?

I spoke directly addressing all of them, “Yes, that is a problem. So let me suggest a solution. We are Indians, our engineering minds are still not as good as say, Europeans or Japanese, but we can work hard. Like donkeys. Hum to gadhon ki tarah kaam kar sakte hain (We can do hard labour like donkeys). We will work like men possessed. Join me to burn our midnight oil and do what has not been done anywhere earlier. We would harness our technical courage and sense of purpose to design, engineer and manufacture this train before 21 months are out, that is, we will turn out this best ever train of India in the calendar year 2018 itself, before I retire. And that takes care of your problem.”

No hesitation. No vacillation. No demur. No doubt. None at all, only excitement and intensity. This was the team I was leading. Majrooh sahib, did you foresee my fortunate stint in ICF:

Main akela hi chala tha janib-e-manzil magar,

log  saath  aate  gaye  aur  karvan banta gaya

(I started for my destination all alone but people kept joining me and now I lead a caravan)

This drama and these words were fine. But to remind each and every member of the team that the train must move out of the ICF gate in the year 2018 for sure, I gave it a name.

I called it Train 18.

(to be continued...)