‘We are attempting a complete turnaround of the Indian Railways’

NEW DELHI: Ajay Shukla, the new Railway Board Member (Traffic), speaks about the changes happening in the ministry’s functioning. A 1979-batch officer of the Indian Railway Traffic Service, Shukla is acclaimed as a writer and playwright. Excerpts:

THE KAYA KALP PANEL HEADED BY RATAN TATA WILL LOOK INTO REVITALISING AND RE-ENERGISING THE INDIAN RAILWAYS

What would you like to achieve in your five-month term?

I am privileged to have taken charge at a juncture when a complete turnaround of the

Indian Railways is being attempted. The minister of railways Suresh Prabhu is personally monitoring implementation schedules of budgetary announcements and has been taking separate and joint meetings with zonal general managers. These things have not happened earlier. My effort will be to accelerate this process of change.

Have restructuring plans been put on the back-burner?

The main goal is to bring about a ‘restructuring of the mind’. If this is achieved, there will be no need to undertake a major surgery.

Is there a time frame for the Ratan Tata headed ‘Kaya Kalp’ committee to finalise its recommendations?

The panel will look into larger issues with aims of revitalising and re-energising the Indian Railways to enable it to meet emerging and future needs. Tata is scheduled to meet the railways minister this week. Turnarounds do not happen in a day. The committee will have a much long tenure. The railways minister has crossed the Rubicon by taking to the well appreciated route of not announcing new trains and projects in his budget speech. Does it follow that projects that are unviable and have a low Rate of Return will be scrapped? No decision to that effect has so far been taken, but such an approach is certainly within the realm of possibility. Presently, we are focusing on timely completion of priority projects that are likely to fetch immediate returns.

Freight loading – bread winner for the railways – cannot radically increase unless wagons with more loading capacity and more powerful locomotives are acquired. Tracks will also need strengthening.

The Indian Railways do have the capability to run 25-ton axle load wagons. Track renewals – to run 25-ton axle load wagons – have been initiated. For this fiscal, an increase of 7.7% freight loading has been targeted, which we are certain to meet.