Issues and Reforms in Indian Railways

Author:S.K.S. Yadav, Kum Kum Chaudhary and Somnath Kisan Khatal

Abstract:
Indian Railways is a department owned and controlled by the Government of India, via the Ministry of Railways. Indian Railways is the world's second largest employer. Indian Railway Finance Corporation Ltd. (IRFC) is a dedicated financing arm of the Ministry of Railways.  Its sole objective is to raise money from the market to part finance the plan outlay of Indian Railways. The Railtel Corporation of India was established in September 2000 as a public sector undertaking (PSU) and a 100 per cent subsidiary under the Ministry of Railways. It has been set up primarily to commercially utilize IR’s communication assets, which often have idle capacity. Many railway stations are in a state of disrepair, especially when compared to stations in developed countries. Sometimes passengers are seen on trains hanging out windows and even on the roof creating safety problems. The interior of many train compartments are poorly maintained. Although accidents such as derailment and collisions are less common in recent times, many are run over by trains, especially in crowded areas. Outdated communication, safety and signaling equipment, which used to contribute to failures in the system, is being updated with the latest technology. A number of train accidents happened on account of a system of manual signals between stations, so automated signaling is getting a boost at considerable expense. It is felt that this would be required given the gradual increase in train speeds and lengths, that would tend to make accidents more dangerous. In the latest instances of signaling control by means of interlinked stations, failure-detection circuits are provided for each track circuit and signal circuit with notification to the signal control centres in case of problems. Though currently available only in a small subset of the overall IR system, anti-collision devices are to be extended to the entire system. Aging colonial-era bridges a

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International Journal of Trade & Commerce (Vol: 1 Issue:1)