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Rail rules - a photo essay

Railway Budget 2016-17 and the Modi Sarkar Railway Lexicon

Mad men are running this country. Before I'm booked for sedition, let me clarify: The current dispensation would've been at home at Madison Avenue of the 1950s, or its subsidiary east of the Sindhu. As lawmakers, their track record is debatable; as ad men, they can give Don Draper a run for his money, and not only if Dettol or Black Bourbon happen to be clients.

Ten years is a long time. Maybe that's why when it rode the tsuNaMo back to Lutyens' Delhi, NDA did not remember The Burning Train that was India Shining. Or perhaps BJP and Co chose not to - coming good on promises is much harder than, say, rolling out buzzwords one after the other. In the summer of 2014, Achhe Din caught on; ab ki baar, it was Modi Sarkar. A sarkar that meant business. A sarkar that loved business. But a sarkar that truly believes that a government has no business being in business. Except, perhaps, the advertising business.

Orwellian is a word being thrown around with respect to this government perhaps a tad too liberally, but that's because the fire of intolerance is, for the first time in many years, raging so wildly, it is bothering the liberals who for so long have been safely ensconced high up in their ivory towers. Sure, you can't have a cow, man, unless you want to milk it. But there are no telescreens, only social media monitoring cells; there is no thought police, only the moral police and, of course, Delhi police. Then again, while a sophisticated apparatus of propaganda is still some time away, the first step - distortion of language - is well underway. 

From Make In India to Mann Ki Baat, the hits have just kept on coming, at least one of which - HIT (Highways, Information ways, Transmission ways) - was a hit with our neighbours in Nepal. In a year and a half, we've been blessed with all manner of buzzwords. There are abbreviations, which come in two flavours. One is acronyms, the ones that you can pronounce as a word. Think NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog, the defanged Planning Commission, or SETU (Self-Employment and Talent Utilisation), a programme under NITI Aayog. The other is initialisms, the ones that have to be spelt out, like FDI. That's First Develop India, not Foreign Direct Investment.

There is renaming - of Nirmal Bharat to Swachh Bharat, the hint of ethnic cleansing not lost on anyone, or of the lapsed JNNURM to AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation). There are mnemonics that are ridiculously hard to remember, be it 3Ds (Democracy, Demography, Demand) or 5F (Farm to Fibre, Fibre to Fabric, Fabric to Fashion, Fabric to Foreign). There is blatant appropriation - think Sardar Patel Urban Housing Mission. Finally, there are the miscellaneous coinages that do not fit neatly into any of the aforementioned brackets, be it Digital India or Give It Up.

Four days after the Prime Minister gave us RURBAN, Suresh Prabhu got a chance to showcase his sloganeering once again in what was his sophomore Railway Budget. The debut was impressive - less than a year into the new government taking charge, it was a mix of promises and catchphrases with a few nods to Modi's flagship schemes. This time around, with the honeymoon long relegated to the history books, Prabhu launched the Modi Sarkar Railway Lexicon. So, except for a few specifics that can easily be taken care of in a postscript, the highlights of this newfangled dictionary are, in fact, the highlights of this year's Rail Budget. So without further ado, here they are, broken down by category:

A. Acronyms

1. UDAY (Utkrisht Double-Decker Air-conditioned Yatri): Overnight double-decker express trains on the busiest routes that will potentially increase carrying capacity by 40%.

2. SMART (Specially Modified Aesthetic Refreshing Travel): High-capacity coaches with automatic doors, bar-code readers, bio-vacuum toilets, water-level indicators, accessible dustbins, ergonomic seating, improved aesthetics, vending machines, entertainment screens, LED-lit boards for advertising, PA system, etc.

3. SRESTHA (Special Railway Establishment for Strategic Technology & Holistic Advancement): R&D organisation for long-term research headed by an eminent scientist.

4. SUTRA (Special Unit for Transportation Research and Analytics): A team of professional analysts for data-backed decision making.

5. PACE (Procurement and Consumption Efficiency): One of 7 Missions (see 'Mnemonics').

B. Initialisms

1. RPIO (Railway Planning & Investment Organisation): For drafting medium- (5-year) and long-term (10-year) corporate plans.

2. NRP-2030 (National Rail Plan): For long-term planning of augmenting railway network and achieving seamless multi-modal transportation network. Coined in the buildup to the Rail Budget.

3. TMS (Track Management System): Launched earlier this year; track inspection, monitoring and maintenance via SMSes and e-mails.

C. Renaming

Sahayak: Formerly coolies, they will be provided new uniforms and trained in soft skills; methods of offering them group insurance facility will also be explored.

D. Mnemonics

1. 3 Rs (Reorganise, Restructure and Rejuvenate): The new thought process of Indian Railways.

2. 3 pillars of strategy that reflect the 3 Rs: Nav Arjan (New revenues), Nav Manak (New norms), Nav Sanrachna (New structures)

3. 7 missions: 7 activities undertaken through a mission mode, each with a mission director who reports directly to the railway board chairman:

i) Mission 25 Tonne (augment carrying capacity)

ii) Mission Zero Accident (safety via two sub-missions: elimination of unmanned level crossings and equipping 100% of the high density network with Train Collision Avoidance System within 3 years)

iii) Mission PACE (increase savings and improve quality of goods and services; see 'Acronyms')

iv) Mission Raftaar (doubling average speeds of freights trains and increasing the average speed of superfast mail/express trains by 25 kmph in the next 5 years)

v) Mission Hundred (commission at least 100 sidings in 2 years)

vi) Mission beyond book-keeping (establish an accounting system where outcomes can be tracked to inputs)

vii) Mission Capacity Utilisation (blueprint for utilising additional capacity as soon as dedicated freight corridors between Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata are commissioned)

E. Appropriation

1. While Prabhu's debut budget proposed setting up the Malaviya chair for railway technology at IIT-BHU, Varanasi, this year, two chairs were proposed - CT Venugopal chair on strategic finance, research and policy development and Kalpana Chawla chair on geo-spatial technology.

2. Deen Dayalu coaches: Named after one of the Sangh's own; long-distance trains will have two to four of these unreserved coaches with enhanced capacity, potable drinking water and a higher number of mobile charging points.

3. Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat: Coined last year as a derivative of Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, this year, it's about Clean My Coach (see 'Miscellaneous coinage'), 17,000 bio-toilets in trains and additional toilets at 475 stations before the close of this financial year, additional 30,000 bio-toilets in the next financial year, portable structures with bio-toilets at all platforms of select stations, at least one disabled-friendly toilet at each platform in A1 class stations and world’s first bio-vacuum toilet on the Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express.

F. Miscellaneous coinage

1. Humsafar: Fully 3AC trains with an optional service for meals.

2. Tejas: Trains with average speeds of over 130 kmph and onboard services such as entertainment, local cuisine, wi-fi, etc. through one service provider.

3. Antyodaya: A long-distance, fully unreserved, superfast train service.

4. Rakshak: Wireless device to be provided to gangmen to intimate them about approaching trains.

5. Navarambh (A New Beginning), comprising:

i) Navinikaran (Structural Interventions): Organisational restructuring of railway board "along business lines"; makes perfect sense for a government in love with big business.

ii) Sashaktikaran (Improving our planning practices): RPIO and NRP-2030 (see 'Abbreviations')

iii) Aekikaran (Consolidation): Examine the feasibility of bringing most companies owned by Indian Railways under the umbrella of a holding company.

iv) Shodh aur vikas (Investing in the future): Develop indigenous technological capability via Foreign Rail Technology Cooperation Scheme (FRTCS; coined in last year's Budget), SRESTHA (see 'Acronyms')

v) Vishleshan (Analyzing data): SUTRA (see 'Acronyms')

vi) Navrachna (Innovation): a) Rs 50 crore for Innovation Challenge administered by Innovation Committee; this year's challenges: accessibility to trains from low-level platforms, increasing coach capacity and digital capabilities at stations; b) Test track for testing of prototypes.

vii) Avataran (Seven Missions; see 'Mnemonics')

6. Clean My Coach: A passenger can request cleaning of his/her coach/toilets on demand through SMS.

7. Rail Mitra Sewa: Comprehensive concierge services including battery operated cars, porter services, wheel chairs, etc.

8. Sarathi Seva: To help old and disabled passengers requiring assistance at Konkan Railway stations; part of Rail Mitra Sewa.

9. Janani sewa: children’s menu items on trains; baby foods, hot milk and hot water at stations; changing boards for babies in train toilets.

That was the Railway Budget 2016-17 according to the Modi Sarkar Railway Lexicon. Whatever could not be covered using Prabhu's phraseology is listed below in the postscript.

PS. 

1. No hike in passenger fares.

2. Cancellation through the 139 helpline post verification using OTP sent on registered phone number.

3. Proposal to convert all operational halts into commercial halts.

4. IRCTC to begin managing catering services in a phased manner. E-catering to be extended to all 408 A1- and A-class stations. Local cuisine of choice to be made available.

5. Increased quota of lower berths for senior citizens and women. Increase in senior citizen quota per coach by 50%, resulting in almost 120 lower berths per train for senior citizens.

6. Wi-fi services to be commissioned in partnership with Google at 100 stations this year and 400 more stations in the next 2 years.

A baby step, but a step nonetheless

(First published @ Kafila)

One January evening a couple of Delhi winters ago, I was at my doctor's. During the routine examination, he discovered that my blood pressure was rather high: 160/100 to be precise. I asked him what I should do; he said, "walk regularly, reduce salt intake and come back next week". So I did. The reading remained the same, so I asked him again what I should do; again he said, "walk regularly, reduce salt intake and come back next week". This went on for a few more weeks. Finally, after five or six weeks of consistently high readings, my doctor prescribed a medicine and added, "walk regularly, reduce salt intake and come back next week".

Popping pills after an isolated high blood pressure reading is something no doctor worth his/her, er, salt would recommend. Instantaneous readings can vary wildly depending on a wide range of reasons - cold weather, a full bladder or the white coat. It is true of blood pressure; it is also true of air pollution. Its sources are many - from power plants to industries, from open burning of dried leaves to dust from construction sites, from vehicular emissions to road dust.

Then there are atmospheric conditions. Broadly speaking, weak or no winds result in higher concentrations of particulate matter; moderate winds disperse PM thereby reducing their level, while higher wind speeds increase levels of PM10 (mostly by bringing in dust from construction sites and open fires in neighbouring areas) but not PM2.5. Of course, a lot also depends on whether the sun actually shines - a quick glance at AQI (Air Quality Index) readings over a 24-hour period reveals the relationship between a clear sky and low levels of PM2.5, PM10 and NO2 (but not O3), be it Dwarka or the US Embassy.

Over the festive season, the sun shone rather brightly on Delhi - in fact, New Year's Eve was the warmest in five years and five degrees above normal. Sometime during the final weekend of the holidays, Delhi debuted its ambitious odd-even rule. Even as the first couple of days passed off smoothly, critics cried themselves hoarse reminding everyone how January 4th - a Monday and the first true working day after the implementation of the scheme - would be the first real test.

Well, Monday the 4th of January came and brought with it a blanket of smog. That, a distinct lack of wind and an increase in the number of vehicles on the streets ferrying working professionals back to their offices after a break resulted in the inevitable - pollution levels rose through the day. The smog persisted through the working week - if anything, it intensified, resulting in the cancellation of many trains and flights.

So how much water does this comparison hold? Apart from the fact that January 1-7 saw more smog, lesser sunlight and lesser wind than December 25-31, there is also another factor at play: the number of cars on the streets in the last week of 2015 vis a vis the first week of 2016. Excluding the New Year weekend, the latter comprised four working days; excluding the Christmas weekend and New Year's Eve, the former comprised just three working days, on which many working professionals - the ones who drive to work - would have been on leave.

Then there is the question of how many vehicles are actually off the streets on any given day. The rough math is easy. Data from the 2011 census shows that 10.79% Delhiites drive to work while 14.05% ride. Since two-wheelers are exempt, one is left with only about 40% private vehicles. Since either odd- or even-numbered vehicles are plying on any given day, one is down to 20%. And since there are another 24 categories under which vehicles are exempt - women, ambulances, embassy, defence, government, police, VVIP, CNG, hybrid, battery-operated etc - it is safe to say that only about 10% of all private vehicles are required to be off the streets on any given day.

Including the number of public transport vehicles (buses, cabs, etc.), the odd-even rule applies to only about 6% of Delhi's vehicles. Then there are those who feign ignorance or are willing to cough up the Rs 2000 fine. Taking these figures as well as weather conditions into consideration, it is actually impressive that pollution levels have dipped, if only marginally. If taking one of 20 vehicles off the streets has had this impact, imagine what removing more can do. Bear in mind that apart from emissions, vehicles are also responsible for pollution in indirect ways, such as kicking up road dust, a huge slice of the pollution pie.

Another thing: Which polluted air are we breathing? Minimum stack height requirements ensure that power plants and other polluting industries release their noxious fumes high up in the sky; what we essentially inhale are vehicular emissions and road dust kicked up by vehicles, both of which are substantially greater in traffic jams. While taking just one in 20 vehicles off the streets, the odd-even rule has significantly reduced idling time and overall transit time.

Finally, the blood pressure analogy: Readings should not be analysed over a limited time-span. To find out if this really works, the odd-even scheme has to be repeated for extended durations of at least a fortnight at different times of the year and under different weather conditions.

Simultaneously, other steps need to be taken. Improving public transport by increasing the number of buses, making the Metro ply from 4am to 1am and at peak frequency from 6am to 11pm and reviving the Ring Railway as well as encouraging cycling and walking by constructing dedicated paths for the same are to combating pollution what, well, regular walks are to hypertension; deterring people from using private conveyance by raising parking fees and making monthly car-free days mandatory, the equivalent of a sodium-regulated diet.

(First published @ Kafila)

Well begun, half done

Here is a comparison of traffic on an unusually bad (but not really exceptional or even rare) working day and on the first working day after the implementation of the odd-even scheme along the Outer Ring Road between Vasant Vihar and Chittaranjan Park:



...and along the Ring Road between Moti Bagh flyover and the entry to DND:



Looks like the 4th was with Delhi!