Transportation : Rails

The Great Indian Railway is almost as great as it can be. The current Railway Ministery led by the colorful Lalu Yadav has the machinery working at almost optimum efficiency. The largest Rail network in the World has increased its capacity by almost 50% in the last few years , and runs at full capacity these days. Whereas earlier , a person had to make reservations for long distance travel months in advance , the chances of getting a reservation at the last moment are also pretty high . Travel has become more comfortable with more AC 3-tier cars. Most long distance trains have a pantry car and fresh food is available. These ameneties were not imaginable in the 1990's.

How does the long distance railway compare with that of USA ? Its FAR bigger and much better utilised. It has a MUCH greater responsibility of providing affordable transport to people of all economic classes.

How does it compare to that of Germany and and other parts of Europe ? Here the comparision gets a bit tougher . Eurorail is FASTER . And Eurorail is CLEANER . EURORAIL is SAFER.

Indian Railways need not get much faster now. The important goal achieved by it is to transport people from one place to another at affordable costs. Faster train systems might be huge investments and the cost will need to be shared by the commuters who might not be able to afford it. Faster long distance travel can be achieved by air and more and more people can afford it these days.

However , there is scope for cleanliness in the Railways , and more importantly there is need for safety. It gives me great heart-burns to read of a train accident in India. Plus , I do know there are hundreds dying on the tracks every month. Steps need to be taken to avoid Railway crossing at all costs. I can't imagine seeing a person walking on the tracks in the US or Germany. Generally the rail tracks are out of bounds for pedestrians. The same needs to be done in India .
We also need to avoid freak accidents of over-enthusiastic youth hanging from the doors, or getting on and off running trains. The train bogeys need to have doors that shut completely before the train starts. This will need more investments , but should be worth it if the number of lifes lost comes down.

As for cleanliness , from an outside point of view it does look like the train stations and the trains themselves are in an immense need of cleanliness , simple logic tells me this aspect is really not as important if the users of the Railways are okay with it. However, I strongly feel that safety measures in Railways as well as Roads should be given utmost importance.