An Indecisive Indian

  In the deafening din of religious fervour for the holy dip at Kumbh, amidst railway stations teeming like anthills, crowds jostling like marbles in a shaken jar, and Indian Railways (IR) indulging in self-congratulatory chest-thumping over the number of trains and passengers ferried, an uncomfortable truth lurks in the shadows: our approach to passenger safety is not just archaic but a tragedy waiting to unfold. If IR’s assurances were a suit of armour, then the recent New Delhi stampede has exposed it as nothing more than rusted chainmail, riddled with gaping chinks. It is a bitter pill to swallow, but swallow we must, for the calamity has once again laid bare failures that stem not from financial drought but from a callous indifference to the fundamental tenets of safety and convenience. The first question stares us in the face: Was the stampede at New Delhi station on February 15th avoidable? The answer is as glaring as the midday sun—yes, it was. Yet, amidst the cacophony of ...

    I had mentioned in the part II that we would talk about big ticket projects of Indian Railways (IR) in the concluding part III of this blog series. But beware, recalling Helena from the bard’s All’s Well That End Well, “...Oft expectation fails most and most oft there Where most it promises, and of it hits Where hope is coldest and despair most fits” , we may be worse off, with expectation getting belied in both hopeful and hopeless situations. So, this is the concluding part of this blog series on the performance of IR in the year 2024. The links for Part I and II are referenced at the end. Big-ticket projects We are constantly bombarded with updates on the percentage completion of high-profile projects, yet nearly all of them remain mired in inordinate delays. Be it the, Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs), J&K rail line, Vande Bharat Sleeper and other versions, High-Speed Rail (HSR), Pamban bridge, station redevelopment, track upgrades for 160 kmph operations and enh...