Train 18/Vande Bharat express: IR does mean business
If you have not read it, do go through this piece: “Indian Railways' major policy shift: Vande Bharat is back, and on fast track” in The Economic times of October 9th 2021:
Let me forward some
comments on what it says. That Indian Railways(IR) would quickly build 75 indigenously designed,
semi-high speed Vande Bharat trains by August 2023, referring to the PM’s statement
from the ramparts of the Red Fort, that and during these 75 weeks of the Amrit
Mahotsav of Independence (March 12, 2021, to August 15, 2023), 75 Vande Bharat
trains would connect every corner of the country. That may be a tall order but
I am not complaining as the intention is noble. It goes on to say that IR had
decided to distribute their production among three factories- 24 in ICF and 10
each in Modern Coach Factory (MCF), Raebareli, and Rail Coach Factory (RCF),
Kapurthala, to fast-track the delivery. There would be two prototypes, and
assuming the trial is successful in the first attempt, the production of the
rest of the 42 trains could start in August 2022 and if three new rakes are
manufactured per month, all the 44 rakes could be ready before the deadline.
Tall order again, particularly as RCF has no experience of manufacturing trains with 3-phase propulsion and MCF has no experience of manufacturing
self-propelled trains. But I have great faith in ICF and it would ramp up
production to reach somewhere near the target.
The
writer then brings in that two years ago production came to a jarring halt when
the IR favoured the introduction of private trains with improved technology.
Yes a jarring halt but was it because of the project of private trains? I dare say it was because
of shenanigans of venal and vested interests; the conspirators and intriguers
had a field day. This project which took our self-reliance to another plane and
which all of India loved as their own and took pride in, was mothballed. The
piece quotes the former Chairman and CEO of IR saying that the riding quality
for long-distance travel was a problem in the first two Vande Bharat train sets
and the problem came from both electricals and bogie design. This is a classic
example of sham a posteriori reasoning. English language has a
good phrase to cover this: “give a dog a bad name and hang him”. Shining
success of the train and the the team which built it was turned into a saga of
crooked machinations with vilification of the train and witch-hunt of the team
members. As of private trains, it is a good project and if the concerns of the
bidders are addressed, Train 18 can actually complement the project to provide shorter
travel time, better punctuality and improved amenities to upper end clientele.
The
piece has many encouraging and upbeat statements from the Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, which indicate that the project is well and
truly on fast track. It also has the minister saying that
the production of the Vande series would continue beyond 2023 as IR was
contemplating to export this made-in-India train by 2026-27. This is sound
reasoning and I do hope this is pursued in right earnest.
Compare this prudent statement of the minister with
that of a particular abbreviated piece of nothing in the aftermath of the
success of Train 18, which I wrote in my book, “My Train 18 Story”:
One of the freeloaders,
a Member of the Board, who had no contribution in making of the train except
decrying it, tried to ride the bandwagon and gave an interview, claiming that
many countries had approached him
showing interest in importing train sets from India. Indeed! The countries
India exports today to, mainly against an Indian line of credit, cannot afford
to run train sets yet. Other middle-income countries can import but which one
would have approached this denizen of fool’s
paradise for importing train sets from India? Will they not see that Train
18 has not found acceptability even by many arms of IR and Indian government
themselves? Such proclamation from people in responsible positions does make
you appreciate Thomas Gray's words in one of his poems, "Where
ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise."
Amazon
https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/8194897432/ref=cx_skuctr_share?smid=A3M8O4N33XL773
There is a lot else to be written about
Train 18 but let that wait for another day. As for the villains, why waste time
and energy on them? They would have their conscience to deal with; remember the
bard who has Antony saying in Julius Caesar, “…The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft
interrèd with their bones...”. Suffice it to quote the concluding
lines of my book here, “A famous Persian poet has said, “Listen to
silence, it has much to say.” But, dear readers, if things do not improve, I
will temper my silence and speak to you through another book.” With everything
falling into place, thanks to the new minister, looks like there will not be
another book on Train 18 for some time and I am happy about it.
Moving on, I found this
piece very alluring for another reason. Not because of the positivity on Train
18 or because the writer had taken my comments too, but because there was some
history behind it.
The history being
simple: One of the best coverages that Train 18 and the team ICF
got, in its heyday in 2018/19, the year two rakes were put out by ICF under my
leadership, was from the same writer, Shantanu Nandan Sharma, also in The
Economic Times, on 13th Jan 2019, titled, “Here's
a look at the minds behind the indigenously built Train 18”
The writer did his job with a great deal of research and hands on,
person-to-person interaction. In this piece of 2019, the writer made us out as
some sort of heroes. Self, as the leader and the core team members,
Shubhranshu, Principle Chief Mech Engineer, S.Srinivas, Chief Design
Engineer/Mech, D.P.Dash, Chief Design Engineer/Elect. and Manish Pradhan/Chief
Workshop Engineer. It was indeed gratifying; of course, understandably many
important team members could not be covered but he did a great service to
characterize the focal team, who otherwise would have gone unacclaimed and
unsung. Only one member of this team, Manish, was still at ICF in his new avatar
as CDE/M till recently. Isn’t it curious that as this piece appeared, we learnt
of a welcome news about two of these members? These two, S.Srinivas and
D.P.Dash, were lifted from oblivion, if not ignominy, and posted back to ICF to
head the Mechanical and Electrical departments respectively. If this does not
show the seriousness of IRto take forward the Train 18 project,
what would? Let me present the profile of these two as it appeared The ET:
Friends, the team and
its morale are important to do anything anywhere. No leader can achieve much
without a motivated team to support him. Remember
what Maxwell said, “Teamwork
makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a
big dream and a bad team.” Things are looking up for Train 18
and its creators as the team finds its way back to ICF. I can visualize the team
ICF with ants in their pants as they prepare to turn out the third
rake. I welcomed the decision whole-heartedly and
tweeted it which elicited a significant response from rail-lovers..
Tweet: https://twitter.com/ManiSudhanshu58/status/1446812269027889153
As
said, “The
only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” but
a good man, the Railway
Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, appeared
and did something. What still rankles is that some of these key team
members who have suffered a loss are still to get recompense in the form of
restoration of their rightful progression in their careers and, of course,
revival of the career of the man profiled thus by The ET:
Jai Hind!!
I am really impressed with your blog article, such great & useful knowledge you mentioned here.
ReplyDeleteYour post is very informative. I have read all your posts and all are very informative. Thanks for sharing and keep it up like this.
pharma gifting pens in mumbai
Sometimes events take a turn to give credit to where it is due, and there could be no greater tribute to the Train 18 team than this new revival of the idea, and in such a big way!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot....
Delete