On the right track?

Indian Railways is rolling forward with new public private partnerships. The details are still sketchy but the newly successful state owned enterprise is looking for investors to climb aboard.

Alfred Romann reports

Much like the man in charge of it, India’s national railway system has managed a remarkable turnaround in the last couple of years. Indian Railways has morphed itself from a chronic money drain into what may be the only profitable national railway system in the world.

Led by Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, the former chief minister of Bihar State who reinvented his populist profile, Indian Railways has gone from heavily subsidized venture into profitable corporate enterprise. It has launched new garib rath or “poor man trains” with low fares and air conditioned service. It expanded a practice of automatically upgrading passengers to empty higher class seats or berths. More importantly it has sought to maximize profits from its freight business by streamlining schedules and monetizing every aspect of its operations.

Going forward, there are plans to increase the total length of rail lines across the country while looking for new revenue streams. Ideas include taking advantage of empty land around rail stations, using taller freight cars that can carry larger loads and, most significantly, combining the private and public sectors to leverage the railway into a more efficient moneymaker.