Ray L. Nutz
Train Attendant
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2005
- Messages
- 31
India approximatly 1/3th size of USA spends following on rail subsidy:
India makes tracks for the train
The fast-growing country upgrades its rail services to meet travel demands, even as other infrastructure lags.
By Nachammai Raman | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
BANGALORE, INDIA - Glinting glass high-rises. Condos with gyms and pools. People toting laptop bags and Blackberries.
Welcome to Bangalore, India's version of Silicon Valley. In recent years, Western firms eager to outsource software development have been beating a path to the city's tech park. But to get to this 21st- century hub, the easiest method remains India's 19th-century train system.
The story is much the same around the rest of India. The country's strong growth rate and sheer size has many grouping it with China as this century's future superpowers. But India has so far not made the same massive infrastructure investments, especially in the area of transportation.
The one exception is the national railroad. The addition of 46 new passenger trains in this fiscal year's Indian Railways budget - including upgraded service to Bangalore - has raised eyebrows. Indian trains, however, are in business because road and air remains so underdeveloped.
The National Highways Authority spent $2.28 billion on roads in 2003-2004, according to government figures. The Civil Aviation outlay was $413.8 million. Indian Railways, by contrast, got $3.24 billion, a figure that will probably rise this year.
"Indian Railways always makes a profit. We have never gone into the red," boasts S. Gagarin, the railroad's senior division commercial manager in Bangalore. According to government estimates, the return on rail investments is nearly three times that of other transportation investments.
With 67,941 miles of tracks, 7,000 passenger trains, and 4,000 freight trains per day, as well as 6,853 stations, the 152-year-old train system is one of the largest in the world. Its workforce of 1.5 million also makes it India's single largest employer.
Uvais Ahmed is a frequent passenger on the increasingly important Madras-Bangalore route of the Shatabdi Express, to which an additional service was announced in the budget. Being a businessman, he finds the train schedule convenient. He boards the train in Madras in the morning, which gives him five working hours in Bangalore before he rides the train back. He's home the same night.
Although Mr. Ahmed owns a car, he doesn't drive to Bangalore unless he anticipates staying over for three or four days. And that's only to help him get around in Bangalore. "Trains are the cheapest and safest," he says. "Highways are not so safe."
"Indian Railways has the lowest accident rate at 0.6 per million kilometers," says Mr. Gagarin. This is a far cry from when the Indian railroad, infamous for head-on collisions and slips, served as a favorite Bollywood subterfuge to turn plots and dispense with characters. Now, it's road accidents that seem to capture Bollywood's imagination. Indian road accidents grievously injure an estimated 1.275 million per year and contribute to 10 percent of road accident fatalities worldwide, according to the Delhi-based Institute of Road Traffic Education.
Many travelers also choose the train for economy. On average, flights on the Madras-Bangalore sector cost four to 10 times as much as rail trips. "If you have less time, then you fly. Otherwise, you take the train to save money. We Indians like to save money," says Ahmed.
Gagarin says Indians also simply prefer the train. "Indians have got some sort of sentimental attachment to the railways."
India makes tracks for the train
The fast-growing country upgrades its rail services to meet travel demands, even as other infrastructure lags.
By Nachammai Raman | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
BANGALORE, INDIA - Glinting glass high-rises. Condos with gyms and pools. People toting laptop bags and Blackberries.
Welcome to Bangalore, India's version of Silicon Valley. In recent years, Western firms eager to outsource software development have been beating a path to the city's tech park. But to get to this 21st- century hub, the easiest method remains India's 19th-century train system.
The story is much the same around the rest of India. The country's strong growth rate and sheer size has many grouping it with China as this century's future superpowers. But India has so far not made the same massive infrastructure investments, especially in the area of transportation.
The one exception is the national railroad. The addition of 46 new passenger trains in this fiscal year's Indian Railways budget - including upgraded service to Bangalore - has raised eyebrows. Indian trains, however, are in business because road and air remains so underdeveloped.
The National Highways Authority spent $2.28 billion on roads in 2003-2004, according to government figures. The Civil Aviation outlay was $413.8 million. Indian Railways, by contrast, got $3.24 billion, a figure that will probably rise this year.
"Indian Railways always makes a profit. We have never gone into the red," boasts S. Gagarin, the railroad's senior division commercial manager in Bangalore. According to government estimates, the return on rail investments is nearly three times that of other transportation investments.
With 67,941 miles of tracks, 7,000 passenger trains, and 4,000 freight trains per day, as well as 6,853 stations, the 152-year-old train system is one of the largest in the world. Its workforce of 1.5 million also makes it India's single largest employer.
Uvais Ahmed is a frequent passenger on the increasingly important Madras-Bangalore route of the Shatabdi Express, to which an additional service was announced in the budget. Being a businessman, he finds the train schedule convenient. He boards the train in Madras in the morning, which gives him five working hours in Bangalore before he rides the train back. He's home the same night.
Although Mr. Ahmed owns a car, he doesn't drive to Bangalore unless he anticipates staying over for three or four days. And that's only to help him get around in Bangalore. "Trains are the cheapest and safest," he says. "Highways are not so safe."
"Indian Railways has the lowest accident rate at 0.6 per million kilometers," says Mr. Gagarin. This is a far cry from when the Indian railroad, infamous for head-on collisions and slips, served as a favorite Bollywood subterfuge to turn plots and dispense with characters. Now, it's road accidents that seem to capture Bollywood's imagination. Indian road accidents grievously injure an estimated 1.275 million per year and contribute to 10 percent of road accident fatalities worldwide, according to the Delhi-based Institute of Road Traffic Education.
Many travelers also choose the train for economy. On average, flights on the Madras-Bangalore sector cost four to 10 times as much as rail trips. "If you have less time, then you fly. Otherwise, you take the train to save money. We Indians like to save money," says Ahmed.
Gagarin says Indians also simply prefer the train. "Indians have got some sort of sentimental attachment to the railways."
