Bring the railways to 21st Century!
Congratulations to the Railways Minister Dallas Alahapperuma on the speech he made to Railway employees recently. It was indeed like a breath of fresh air; we unfortunately saw and heard only a snippet of his speech over the TV but that was adequate. Unlike most of his colleagues he was not only candid but was also credible. He was not economical with the truth either. He spoke of the huge losses being incurred by the Department, his description of the manner in which the ‘Yakada Yaka’ was swallowing billions was indeed not only colourful but devastating. We need more ministers like him.
His speech was an indictment, not on the employees alone, (yes we neither respect nor value our jobs in this country), all governments (do we not recall how the government of CBK imported ship engines for trains! But that administration was not alone, this country has actually been robbed blind by politicians of all hues using the Railways) have ‘abused the Railways Department to give unproductive employment – transforming the Department, like most other government-owned undertakings, into employment agencies. We, the public, are also vicariously liable for the pathetic state of affairs.
Sri Lanka perhaps has the cheapest railway system in the world, not even in the countries of the sub-continent could one travel for less. Fares must be revised; we shall return to that anon. The second meaningless feature is classless travel, even if we wish to pay more and travel in comfort we cannot, is this not stupid? We all know from which misguided ‘Ism’ such populist concepts emanated (those heroes studied politics and law not accountancy or business management!) but we need to change course at least now.
Is it not a shame on this nation that the railway network remains the same as that which we inherited from the British 60 years ago? As someone said, had the Brits not come, we would be still in the bullock cart age. This is at a time when trains are running at 250 kms per hour in Europe and Japan and at 150 kms per hour in India – our trains are running at 40kms per hour! This alone reflects the state of the country, need anything more be said?
Upgrading our railway network is more important than either the International Airport at Weerawila or the Moragahatenna Project. Our roads are clogged with traffic and we are spending billions on the import of petroleum and this astronomical amount would certainly increase with oil prices continuing to soar. Mass transportation is the only answer as in other parts of the world. The government must get its priorities right, both in their own interest and also in our interest, (which of course would come last).
Let us take a page out of India’s book; let us seek the assistance of their mercurial Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadev, who has done a truly amazing job with their railways and transformed their loss making railway into a profit making one. Our system is a micro one and our problems are smaller when compared to the problems faced by sub-continental India. Minister Alahappertuma should undertake a study tour of India with a team of officers and invite Yadav to send a team out here to study our system and help turn it around.
Meanwhile, for a start the apparently able Minister should reintroduce the First Class, Second Class and the Economy Class system to enable those who wish to pay more and travel in a measure of comfort to do so. Re-introduce the Buffet Car. Improve the railway stations – let companies maintain them and advertise themselves – it would be worth their while. The Railways Department could auction the ‘stations maintenance.’ Yes Minister, it does seem that you have it in you to be able to transform our railways and to earn the eternal gratitude of the commuters. You would furthermore be remembered for generations as the minister who took the railway into the 21st Century from early in the 20th Century!
Source: The Nation
Tags: accountancy, employment agencies, indictment, pathetic state, railway employees, railway network, railway system, railways, ship engines, snippet, state of affairs, undertakings
