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Railways - a major letdown for Karnataka
Written By nijavaada - 14 February, 2009
Infrastructure Bangalore Infrastructure India railways SWR Karnataka Analysis GOI Mobilicity
In continuation with some threads on transportation, highways, and the unjust treatment Karnataka (including Bengaluru) has been facing from the Center, here're some fresh wounds the Railway ministry has made on Karnataka.
The 2009-10 interim Railway budget is out, and as expected, has been a disaster for us (Karnataka).
There hve always been huge piles of requests sent to Railway ministers in the past, like this time too, but the outcome of every budget has been a pittance in front of them. Why, look at this time's budget:
1. There were demands for 10 new inter-city rails in Karnataka.
2. What have we got - Zilch!
3. There were 5 tracks within Karnataka that were demanded to be made non-stop for special convenience of long distance traverlers..
4. What we got - Zilch!
5. And so on..
This has been the trend of unequal treatment Karnataka has been facing at the Center. All the plans we might have for Bengaluru, its industrial growth, its governance, its security, its economy, its satellite-town-plan, and all that will spontaneously plummet to earth if we have such an un-federal system in place, where all that we get from the center is a new, and longer inter-state train to Bengaluru, only to help more people come into the state, but nothing to strengthen the industrial corridor we dream to build between Bengaluru and the many other potentially industrial towns across the state. Come to think of it, is a Bengaluru-Mangalore high-speed rail link more useful to BLR/KAR, or a BLR-Chennai rail link? Besides, 3 or 4 intra-state trains have been allocated to TN in this budget, but none to Karnataka!
And guess what: with all this noise happening out there, excepting the Kannada media doing voluntary investigations and telling people about this matter, no damn soul on the English media quarters (the ones that go full volume when it comes to talking about pubs, parties, valentines and etc. stuff) seems to be even bothered about this to more than publishing a couple of lines in a corner. Are we not unduly relying on some media that actually doesnt care, at heart, for what's good for this city? For what's needed to make a better Bengaluru, a better Karnataka? Its time we as Praje work towards influencing the English media to stop imagining themselves as representatives of a different planet, and come back to earth and stand for the cause of Karnataka.
As responsible Praje, we need to exibhit more sensibility than getting influenced by media that care the least for real development of our land. We urgently need to keep our eyes wide open to things around us. Even while not ignoring the rotten present that we're standing amidst, we MUST realise ways to create a glorious future..
-Nijavaada
COMMENTS
nijavaada - 18 February, 2009 - 15:04
Frankly, although this could be a decent compilation of data, this is just that - data. Because data needs an interpretation to actually draw inferences.
So firstly, let us attach the installation dates of each such rly line. This will help us understand at what pace has Karnataka really been experiencing development w.r.t Rlys.
Second, the more easily apparent analysis is the percentage of electrified rly lines within Karnataka, and the percentage of electrification of lines that connect towns of KAR with other states. Explains how under-developed the lines inside KAR are w.r.t most of rest of India. It is undisputable that electrification is the way to go before being a good railway connected state. Otherwise why did we even want any broad guage railways in our state at all. With those minimalistic expectations arent narrow guages also enough? Of course not.
Third, let us first ask ourselves - are with okay with that much ONLY?! I dont think we can be okay with that! If Praje are okay, then there's something that we must be seriously cheating ourselves in thinking so.
The ideal network we want inside KAR is a combination of all possible routes between any two towns in KAR. This way, if someone says all that KAR needs to have rail network to Kodagu is a MYS-KOD line, that is probably 1% of the actual requirement. Dont we need lines from say, Mangalore to Kodagu, likewise to Kodagu from Hubli, Gulbarga, Belgaavi, Bidar, Raichur and so on... Of course we do. Because thats exactly what is the need. And also because thats how it is many states in India.
Fourth, we cannot afford to convince ourselves to be okay with rly lines that only connect other states to border towns of Karnataka claiming as a major gain to Karnataka. A good example is indeed the recently debated Chennai-Bangalore bullet train. If Karnataka's (or even Bengaluru's) welfare is what we need, we need things that can help us in this regard. We need rail lines that link our industrial towns to ports, our people-dense towns to tourist towns, and so on. We dont need daisy-chain railway lines to statistically "satisfy" the apparently suppressed expectations of people from railways.
-Nijavaada
nijavaada - 19 February, 2009 - 13:16
Let us be structured and realistic in our approach, so that we stand a better chance of getting what we need
But actually your words dont seem to be indicative of any such stand. Your stats only seem to paint of a rosy picture of Rlys in KAR - which is utterly untrue. Firstly, the macro level statistics - of the railway length inside KAR, and in comparison with other states' corresponding numbers tells a sad story by itself. There could be tens of other angles to analyse these data from, but they cannot lead to an entirely different inference.
The important thing is not when these lines were built, but the fact that they are here now
But the more important parameter that comes out of this analysis is the demand-supply gap, in terms of the time projects are taking to be agreed-upon and laid in KAR as opposed to many other states.
Electrification should only be done on double lines with high traffic
Unfortunately the chicken-egg situation that this is pointing at is that KAR might not get more electric lines unless we have more double-track percentage in the state. The doubling wont happen until there's a matching traffic demand. And apparently, the demand wont go up as long as we dont have trains running on routes that are indeed necessary. But this leads us to ask basic questions - why then does the Rly department see more demand in other states, and not in KAR? Why doesnt the dept. want to infuse the need to travel by rail in more people by making railways more attractive an option - like it has done in many other states? Doesnt the Rly dept. want to run a "business" in KAR?? While there is certainly a lot of demand (see links I posted above) there seems to be no match from the supply side.
And you seem to be an SME on the railways front or something - but its sad that you dont think electrification of tracks is beneficial indeed. It certainly adds more power, and hence more capacity, and hence reduced burden per route/run.
And now, talking about perspectives.. I think there is a serious gap visible here, typical of some urban satisfied souls. There are people who face this bitter railway reality in our state everyday, and there are people that spend a whole lot more (money and time) to travel the same distances that is far conveniently traveled by people in other states. People of Karnataka who have been living it up with the bad Rly situation here know best the magnitude of this crap we have in our state.
Although asking for the moon seems to be far from what you're proposing here, it is sad that you still believe daisy-chaining cities on railway tracks is still enough for a fast-growing state like KAR. And FYI, daisy chaining is close to what you've suggested about the Kodagu connection with MYS, BLR, HUB and other cities in that sequential order. Instead, we need to ask for a star-connection involving individual connections between every significant city-couple in the state as in - KOD-BLR, KOD-MYS, KOD-MLR, KOD-BEL, KOD-BID etc. If you think thats too much, then you're suppressing your expectations, and needs too.
Coming to the juvenile remark in your post, let me clarify that this is a federal union of states - into which each state agreed to merge (when the republic was formed) upon the condition that the new union would give better living conditions in all ways than by being alone. While the center takes a lot away from the state for the cause of the nation as a whole (the gold that KAR generates, the Iron ore that KAR generates, the sandalwood that KAR generates, the s/w that KAR generates etc. etc.) it is highly warranted to at-least expect on-par treatment with other states. In fact a look at the stats given on this thread, on-par is far from reality. And how can you be sure that there is a shortage of need (demand) in our state - which is why we dont have the supply? Your argument in this direction is full of pitfalls. Besides, with an eye for progress and a glorious state that we want to build (assuming you're part of that too), the kind of complacent attitude displayed in your comment is not the stuff that can help us reach there!
BTW, so what if MLR-KOD is tough because of ghats? Didnt the Konkan railway not pass through the same western ghats? And what do you know about the kind of problems eastern ghats poses - and what are the railways laid out there? Please look into your data bank in this regard and re-think..
-Nijavaada
nijavaada - 19 February, 2009 - 13:22
A good job indeed with the map there.. but can you also let us know the time-stamp of this map? And a corresponding map of Bihar and TN with the same time-stamp could help place our argument in context.
Your analysis is of course a perfect fit into the puzzle here, but a comparison is the other piece that completes it - hence we need to have those additional maps as well.
-Nijavaada
nijavaada - 15 February, 2009 - 16:15
Please justify your rather optimistic sounding stance w.r.t CKJS's tenure as railway minister at the center. There are hardly any substantiating successes for the cause of karnataka that we've seen during his tenure either. Of what avail are any of the projects he granted in his entire tenure but only seen on budget papers?! What essentially makes you quote his contribution so exceptionally?
BTW, if your comments are leading to a privatisation of the indian railways, that is going to be an utterly useless suggestion to make to the system. Of course a PPP is something that one can suggest, but from first principles of good governance, there are certain aspects of a good society that need to be under an elected govt's control.
Talking about certain regions of Karnataka not getting enough attention, and sticking to a very very common man's approach of blaming a particular government for that is not warranted here. We must realise that this is another manifestation of the illogical & pseudo-decentralised system of governance in India.
It is easy to get blown by a common-man kind of blame-game on Karnataka's rather disturbing history, and its impact on most parts of the state. But the point here is, as its responsible citizens, are we really taking the pains to understand the real cause behind such grave injustices?
- Coorg, even after 60 yrs of independence, is yet to get a single railway line going through it - while being an amazing tourist attraction in Karnataka - who's to blame - the stupid centralized railways only!
- Water sharing on Krishna river - quite an anomoly when compared to the Center's stand w.r.t Kaveri. While the downstream TN gets lion share of Kaveri water every year, the upstream of Krishna - Maharashtra, gets to store most of the water in that river every year. Of course when they release waters from these rivers, again, the centralized flood-management ministry doesnt care if Karnataka gets flooded. Because Water sharing and Flood(distress) management all come under the union list.
The last portion of your comment comes back on track to say that there is such a strong need for decentralisation. If our voices have to be heard indeed, it is that much more important for a governance much closer to the citizens' voices be responsible and answerable for all programs undertaken towards this cause. Which means, railways (among many such items) need to be under the state's purview/control.
-Nijavaada
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