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Here is a compilation of essays on the ‘Indian Railways’ for class 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on the ‘Indian Railways’ especially written for school and college students.
Essay on the Indian Railways
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Essay Contents:
- Essay on the Introduction to Indian Railways
- Essay on Railway Development under the Five Year Plans
- Essay on the Beneficial Effects of Railways on Indian Economy
- Essay on the Problems of Railway Transport in India
- Essay on the Suggestions for Improvement of Indian Railways
- Essay on the Recent Strategy Adopted by Indian Railways
- Essay on the Major Recommendations of Expert Group on Indian Railways
1. Essay on the Introduction to Indian Railways:
Among all the transport systems of the country, Railways occupy the most important position as it carry nearly 80 per cent of total goods traffic and 70 per cent of the passenger traffic. Indian Railways had started its operation on April 16, 1853 with its first route of 22 miles (34 kms). But with the passage of time, the Indian Railway System has grown into such a big organisation that it has become Asia’s largest and World’s second largest organisation in terms of its route length.
Total route length of Indian Railways which was 53,600 kms in 1950-51, gradually rose to 65,800 kms in 2013-2014 out of which only 21,600 kms of route length is electrified. Out of the total route length, Broad Gauge covers 48,186 kms, Meter Gauge covers 13,290 kms and Narrow Gauge covers 3,124 kms.
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Indian Railways completed Gauge Conversion works to the extent of 1,351 kms in 1992-93 and 1,619 kms in 1993-94, 1,805 kms in 1994-95, 1,000 kms in 1995-96, 1,364 kms in 1996-97, 847 kms in 1997-98 and 693 kms in 1998-99. It runs nearly 11,500 trains a day connecting 7,093 stations throughout the country. It is the largest single undertaking of the country with a capital investment of Rs 25,320 crores as on March 31, 1998.
With a staff strength of nearly 15.50 lakhs regular employees and nearly 3 lakh of casual employees, it carried nearly 839 crore of passengers andvl058 million tonnes of freight traffic during 2013-14. It is better to have some idea about the vastness of Indian Railways from the fact that it owns nearly 7,739 locomotives; 44,063 coaches and over 2.2 lakh wagons during 2002-03.
During the period covering from 1951 to 2002, Indian Railways have recorded a growth rate of 3.9 per cent per annum in respect of passenger traffic and 4.5 per cent per annum in respect of freight traffic. The railways employ about 16 lakh workers—the largest number of any undertaking in the country.
2. Essay on the Railway Development under the Five Year Plans:
Among all the modes of transport in India Railway transport is the most important one. Considering its importance the Government laid greatest emphasis on the development of Railways in the successive Five Year Plans of the country.
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The main objective of the planning for the development of Railway Transport system in India was to expand Railway traffic in such a manner so as to avoid bottleneck in the entire production process and also to ensure an efficient and well developed rail transport system. In first six Five Year Plans, total outlay of Rs 12,000 crore was earmarked for the development of Railways.
Each Five Year Plan had finalised an outlay and special objective for the development of Railways in the following manner:
(a) First Plan:
Total outlay 217 crore; Special objective—rehabilitation, replacement and modernisation of over aged assets.
(b) Second Plan:
Total outlay Rs 723 crore; Special objective—to augment the line capacity and rolling stock through the preparation of Railways for carrying traffic generated by the new steel plants in India and increased volume of production of coal.
(c) Third Plan:
Total outlay Rs 1,763.6 crore; Special objective—to build up additional capacity for meeting additional traffic demand and to prevent bottlenecks.
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(d) Fourth Plan:
Total outlay. Rs 1,420 crore; Special objective—Modernisation of rail transport system for improving its efficiency of operation.
(e) Fifth Plan:
Total outlay: Rs 2,350 crore; Special objective—Improvement of the existing transport capacity and to maximise the operational efficiency of Railways.
(f) Sixth Plan:
Total outlay—Rs 5,370 crore; Special objectives—To augment passenger and freight traffic capacity, modernisation of the system and to promote better utilisation of existing capacity.
(g) Seventh plan:
Total outlay- Rs 12,2212 dm, Special objective—Modernisation and technological up gradation; replacement of over-aged assets, development of rapid handling terminals and traction policy for the conversion from steam to diesel and electric traction by the year 2000.
(h) Eighth Plan:
Total outlay—Rs 55,926 crore; Special objectives—strengthening of rail transport system to support the growth process, modernisation and technical upgradation, conversion from steam to Diesel and electric traction by the year 2000 and conversion of metre gauge lines into broad gauge lines under the uni-gauge scheme.
Thus the thrust areas identified for the Eighth Plan period include replacement and renewal of over aged assets; augmentation of terminal and rolling stock capacities; gauge conversion and electrification. Indian Railways completed gauge conversion of 1,351 kms in 1992-93, 1,619 kms in 1993-94, 1,805 kms in 1994-95, 1,000 kms in 1995-96 and 1,364 kms in 1996-97.
Railway Development under Tenth Plan:
Tenth Plan emphasised on strengthening the capacity of the Railway system so as to develop it as a prime carrier of long distance bulk freight and passenger traffic. In order to achieve such strength railways during the Tenth Plan mostly concentrated on multiplexing and electrification of dense corridors, improving the reliability of its routine operations, containerization and optimisation of its entire operation systems.
In order to reverse the situation in favour of railways, Tenth Plan proposed certain effective steps for influencing the model choice through relative pricing mostly based on social costs and augmenting the capacity and improving the productivity of the entire railway system.
Investment strategy followed during the Tenth Plan were:
(i) Speedy completion of on-going projects to avoid time and cost over-runs;
(ii) Highest priority is given to multiplexing and electrification of the system related to its new projects;
(iii) Increasing productivity through improvements in its utilisation of assets;
(iv) Adopting overall cost control measures including employment restraint, inventory management etc.
(v) Upgrading safety infrastructure by infusing new technology, and
(vi) Speedy continuation of private sector participation by giving supports and offering projects such as gauge conversion, electrification, supply of rolling stock, doubling the single track, telecom and signal projects etc.
Railway Projects under Eleventh Plan and Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs):
During the Eleventh Plan, Railways is planning to undertake some important projects for building higher capacity and realising greater volume of traffic. The high-density network connecting the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai, including its diagonal popularly called the Golden Quadrilateral has got saturated at most of its locations.
Considering the present growth scenario, the Railways expect to carry 95 million tonnes incremental traffic per year and about 1,100 million tonnes revenue earning freight traffic by the end of Eleventh Plan. This requires large investment for capacity augmentation. Under this situation, development of Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) for carrying additional traffic is very much essential considering the high growth in its demand. Therefore, under the Eleventh Plan, the Railways have proposed a 2,700 kilometre long railway line project.
This includes:
(i) Eastern Corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni near Kolkata as Phase-I covering 1,839 kms and
(ii) Western Corridor from Jawaharlal Nehru-Port near Mumbai to Dadri/Tughlakabad covering 1,499 kms.
These DFCs along with the feed routes of Indian Railways will ensure availability of sufficient capacity in the face of rising demand for transport. This plan also proposed that the Eastern Corridor will be extended to the proposed Deep Sea Water Port near Kolkata as and when traffic builds up. Both the Eastern and Western Corridors will be made suitable for running of longer and heavier trains of 25 tonne axle load.
While the Eastern Corridor will be electrified, the Western Corridor will operate on diesel traction so as to permit Double Stack Container operation. Moreover, logistics parks are proposed to be developed on DFC. An SPV called Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFC-CIL) has also been formed for implementing this project.
Apart from Eastern and Western DFCs, a feasibility study has also been undertaken on four future freight corridors, viz., East-West Corridor (Kolkata-Mumbai), North-South Corridor (Delhi-Chennai), East Coast Corridor (Kharagpur-Vijayawada) and Southern Corridor (Goa-Chennai). A pre-feasibility study of the Chennai-Bangalore Freight Corridor is also being proposed.
After Commissioning of the Eastern and Western DFCs, it is planned to increase the speed of passenger trains to 160-200 kmph on the existing routes. A feasibility study for up-gradation of speed of passenger trains to 160-200 kmph on the existing Delhi-Mumbai route has been undertaken with the co-operation from the Government of Japan in 2012-13. Thus it is expected that after the implementation of DFCs projects, the quality of train services in terms of its speed is likely to improve considerably.
After completion of eleven full-term plans, Indian Railways has improved its condition both in terms of its assets and services rendered. Table 10.5 reveals some important fact regarding the development of Railways from 1950-51 to 2010-11.
Table 10.8 reveals that Indian Railways has achieved a good deal of modernisation since 1951. Although total route length has increased only from 53,600 kms in 1950-51 to 62,370 kms in 1990-91 but total electrified route length has increased substantially from 390 kms to 9,970 kms. Again in 2013-14 the total route length and electrified route length further rose to 65,800 kms and 21,680 kms respectively.
The steam engines are gradually being replaced by diesel and electric locomotives and their numbers have increased from 17 and 72 in 1951 to 4,800 and 3,065 respectively in 2005-06. Total numbers of coaches and wagons have also increased from 19,630 and 206 thousand in 1950-51 to 47,950 and 222 thousand in 2005-06 respectively. Diesel and electric locomotives are now carrying nearly 98 per cent of total goods traffic but in terms of their numbers, only 56 per cent of all locomotives are under operation.
Moreover, in respect of signaling and telecommunication, a good deal of modernisation and improvement programmes is gradually being undertaken. Due to all these efforts, passenger traffic has increased from 1,290 million in 1950-51 to 8,397 million in 2013- 14 and freight traffic has also increased from 93 million tonnes in 1950-51 to 1058 million tonnes in 2013-14.
3. Essay on the Beneficial Effects of Railways on Indian Economy:
Construction and expansion of a huge network of Railways in India has been creating a number of beneficial effects on the economy of the country.
Following are some of the beneficial effects of Railways on Indian economy:
(i) Benefit to Agriculture:
Indian agriculture is getting a lot of benefits from Indian Railways. In the absence of Railways, markets for agricultural commodities would have been restricted only to local areas. But the expansion of Railway network has made it possible to extend the area of the market for our agricultural products to the extreme corners of the country. Moreover, railways supplies basic inputs to agriculture in time. Railways has helped to maintain a better distribution of agricultural produce and bring about uniform prices of these goods throughout the country.
(ii) Benefit to Industry:
Railways transport is considered as an important factor behind the industrialization of a particular region. Indian railways have made valuable contributions towards the establishment of some important industries in India. Indian Railways provide easy and cheap transportation facilities for carrying fuels and raw materials to the industrial units and also to distribute their finished products into various distant markets.
Expansion of railways has resulted in the development of cotton textiles industry of Bombay, jute industry of Bengal, tea industry in Assam and Bengal etc.
(iii) Benefit to Trade:
A well developed network of railways has resulted in the expansion of trade in India particularly of bulky and perishable commodities. The markets for fruits, egg, fish, milk, vegetables etc. have expanded due to railway traffic. Moreover, Railways has also expanded external trade multiplying the volume of both exports and imports.
(iv) Social Benefits:
Indian railways have also contributed towards development of Indian society by reducing the isolation between villages, regions and also between various communities. Railways have removed the caste prejudices and have broken up the joint family system. Railways has united the country into a big one by raising the geographical mobility.
(v) Political and Administrative Benefits:
Indian railways are regularly rendering a lot of political and administrative benefits to a vast country like India. For maintaining internal security and external safety, quicker movement of police and army from one region to another region of the country has become possible through its well-developed network of railways. Railways are thus very much useful for maintaining sound administration in a vast country like India.
4. Essay on the Problems of Railway Transport in India:
Indian railways have been suffering from number of problems in recent years and this has resulted in persistent loss in this undertaking over the years.
Following are some of the important problems faced by Indian Railways in recent years:
(i) Impact of Inflation:
Continuous inflation at a higher rate created a serious impact on the financial condition of Indian Railways. While the prices of the inputs purchased by Railways (viz. Coal, Diesel, Iron and Steel, Cement etc.) are increasing at a very steeper rate due to inflation but fares and freight rates could not be increased to that proportion. This has led to a huge loss of this undertaking.
(ii) Social Responsibilities:
Being a public utility undertaking, Indian railways have to bear a huge social responsibility in the form of maintaining unremynerative lines, sub-urban and other traffic, low rated freight cargo for the transfer of essential commodities. All these have resulted in a huge loss of revenue to Indian Railways. In 1998-99 the estimated social burden on Indian railways was to the extent of Rs 2,500 crore.
(iii) Increasing Inefficiency:
Another factor which are also responsible for such a huge loss to Indian Railways is the increasing inefficiency of this undertaking. With the passage of time, problems like irregularity regarding passenger and freight traffic, non-availability of wagons corruption in respect of allocation of wagons, loss of goods in transit, claims, collection of fares of running trains etc. sporadic and wild-cat strike by railways staff, inefficient and corrupt practices by management have badly affected the operation of Indian Railways. Deterioration in passenger services, loss of railways property are common features.
All these have led to a huge loss of revenue to Indian Railways in different years. The budgetary support to the Railways declined continuously from 75 per cent of the Railways Plan Outlay during the Fifth Plan to 42 per cent of outlay in the Seventh Plan and further to 23 per cent of the outlay during the last four years of the Eighth Plan. The declining budgetary support has adversely affected the Railway’s plan for acquisition of locomotives, coaches and wagons.
The alternative source for financing the Railway plans, including market borrowings, has also become uncertain and expensive. The Railways, therefore, have been forced to rely more on internal generation, which is estimated to be around 55 per cent in 1995-96.
Moreover, the administrative cost of the Indian Railways has been increasing rapidly. With nearly 1.55 million employees, the Indian Railways are the largest employer among public sector undertakings in the country. There is also a considerable burden of pension liabilities. The Railways have, therefore, drawn out an elaborate plan for right-sizing the manpower.
5. Essay on the Suggestions for the Improvement of Indian Railways:
In order to improve the quality of railway transport in India and to make it more efficient and useful, following suggestions are worth mentioning:
(i) Increase in Operational Efficiency:
The operational efficiency of Indian Railways should be improved by developing modern signaling and telecommunication devices along-with rational track management.
(ii) Improving Maintenance Activities:
The maintenance activities of railways should be improved. This includes the maintenance of track and bridges, maintenance of railway engines, wagons and passenger compartments. Maintenance workers engaged for these works should be motivated and activated to deliver the best services to the customers.
(iii) Avoiding Delay:
Railway services in India are subjected to unnecessary delay in its operations. Steps should be taken to avoid delay in forwarding goods by rail and also in implementing new schemes. Orthodox rules and procedures should be simplified to make it more transparent so that private sector can depend more on railway services.
(iv) Attaining Financial Viability:
Railway should try to attain financial viability by adopting a rational tariff structure. Rail fares and freight charges should be at least equal to its operational cost. Leakages of revenue in passenger traffic and claims as a result of corrupt practices adopted by some unscrupulous employees should be checked immediately for attaining revenue efficiency.
(v) Providing Door to Door Services:
Railways are recently utilizing the services of public sector enterprise like the Container Corporation of India for providing door to door services to its customers. Considering the inadequacy in its services, the services of private sector enterprises should be allowed to expand such door to door facilities in carrying containers.
Accordingly, the private entrepreneurs may be allowed purchase their own wagons for carrying their containers to the godowns of their customers in trucks.
(vi) Attaining Punctuality in Time Schedule:
Attaining punctuality in time schedule both for running passenger trains and container or goods trains is very important. Arrival and departure time of trains should be kept strictly on schedule and the same should be adhered to strictly.
In the busy railway tracks, provision be made for double tracking system and number of excess track in the stations for crossing, passing and smooth running of the important trains be made extensively.
(vii) Differentiated Railway Services:
In order to attain its commercial viability and also to maintain its Social Commitment, Railways should provide differentiated railway services to different categories of passengers. Accordingly, special services with rich amenities be provided to rich and executive class passenger at higher rate to augment sufficient revenue.
Moreover, to maintain its social commitments, passengers of lower income group should be provided the passenger services in ordinary class at a concessional rates in its fare.
(viii) Long Term Fund:
In order to attain capacity addition in its services, Railways should set up long term fund. For this purpose additional cess on higher class fare may be imposed for crediting the amount to such fund.
(ix) Commercial Lease of Land and Checking its Illegal Possession:
Railways should impose complete check on illegal possession of railway vacant land and maintain those land for future purposes. Commercial lands under the possession of railway may be leased out at rational rates for a specified period of time. The revenue so collected may be utilised for the expansion of railway traffic in the country.
(x) Attaining Commercial Viability of Railway Workshops:
Commercial viability of a number of railway workshops is being eroded which must be restored at any cost. Steps be taken to utilise the fullest capacity of these workshops. Workforce engaged in this workshop should be utilised to the fullest extent and if necessary the surplus work force should be restructured for its rational uses.
6. Essay on the Recent Strategy Adopted by Indian Railways for Meeting Challenges Posed by Economic Liberalisation:
Indian Railways is now facing challenges posed by economic liberalisation, rising staff costs, resource constraints for investment and also from stiff competition from other modes of transport. In order to meet those challenges, Railways has adopted some new strategies in recent years.
With over 15,50,000 employees, Railways is the largest employer among public sector undertakings in the country. Accordingly, a substantial portion of their gross expenditure is spent in staff costs for making payment of salaries and allowances including pension liabilities.
This liability has risen appreciably recently due to the recommendations of Sixth Central Pay Commission. With a view to reducing the impact of rising staff costs, Railways have developed a two-pronged strategy.
A 10-year perspective plan for manpower planning has been drawn. Simultaneously, a large number of initiatives have been taken to improve staff productivity with a view to providing cost-effective services to customers.
Measures towards modernization of infrastructure and rolling stock, induction of computerization and information technology at an accelerated pace, enhanced manpower productivity and a significant improvement in work culture at all levels, are being adopted progressively for meeting the challenges posed by economic liberalisation and stiff competition from other modes of transport.
The Railways have been performing a unique and challenging role of functioning both as a commercial undertaking as well as provider of public utility service. The latter involves a measure of cross-subsidization of passenger service by freight revenues as well as operating certain uneconomic services like those in certain suburban sections and branch lines in order to provide cheap and affordable transport to the public at large.
Again, in order to face the resource constraints, the Railways have launched a number of schemes to mobilise extra-budgetary resources to meet the needs of growth and development. In order to supplement investment, partnerships with private sector and State Governments for specific projects are being forged.
In addition to Build-Own-Lease Transfer (BOLT) and Own Your Wagon Scheme (OYWS), other initiatives to attract private participation include setting up a private terminal and public-private partnership to provide railway connectivity to new upcoming ports.
Joint ventures with some State Governments for executing projects have also been envisaged. Two separate Memoranda of Understanding were signed with Government of Karnataka and Government of Andhra Pradesh to formalize their financial participation in certain railway projects in their respective states.
The MOU between Government of Karnataka and Ministry of Railways envisages formation of a joint-venture company, funded by the Central Government, the State Government, financial institutions and others. This company will be under-written by Government of Karnataka and will raise resources for early completion of certain identified railway projects.
Similarly, the MOU with Government of Andhra Pradesh envisages formation of a joint-venture company to plan and implement a model scheme of seamless Multi-modal Urban Transport System involving both rail and road.
An SPV with equity participation of Ministry of Railways and M/s. Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd. (GPPL) has been planned to provide Broad Gauge connectivity to the port of Pipavav on the West Coast of India by conversion of Surinderanagar—Rajula City (250 km) meter gauge line and a new line from Rajula City to the port of Pipavav.
Proposals to connect Mundra Port on the West Coast and Dharma Port on the East Coast to the Broad Gauge network of Indian Railways through a suitable framework are also under active consideration of the Ministry of Railways.
The Railways also expect to augment considerable amount of revenues from non-traditional sources, such as commercial publicity, commercial use of land and air space and utilisation of ‘right of way’ of optic fibre cable network. Parcel services of Indian Railways are also being improved with leasing of space in brake vans of passenger trains.
With fast growth in Cargo in private sector, it has become possible to offer better quality of service by guaranteed clearance of Cargo through regular train services.
Moreover, the government is seriously considering the entry of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into railways. Accordingly, the government is likely to FDI in high speed trains and other projects including development of rail lines between project sites and existing network.
However, the FDI will not be allowed in train operations and safety. As per the new proposal, foreign investment would also be allowed in suburban corridor, high-speed train systems and dedicated freight line projects implemented in PPP mode. It has also suggested widening the definition of ‘infrastructure’ by including railway line and railway sidings.
As per the new proposal, foreign investment would be allowed to pick-up 100 per cent stake in the special purpose vehicle (SPV) that will construct and maintain rail lines connecting ports mines and industrial hubs with the existing rail network.
Thus, the present move will help the railway in attracting more and more FDI which will assist in the development of infrastructure for industrial purposes and also help in smooth movement of raw materials from mines to ports or mines to new industrial projects.
7. Essay on the Major Recommendations of Expert Group on Indian Railways:
Indian Railways are facing the problem of upgradation and expansion of services. Accordingly, the Ministry of Railways.
Railway Board, had constituted an Expert Group on December 31, 1998 to study the railway sector in order to estimate the financing requirements of an expansion and upgrading programme for Indian Railways, to identify sources of funding of estimated investments over 15-year period, to study models of structure and ownership of rail transport facilities in developed countries and to recommend suitable regulatory arrangements that would facilitate orderly expansion of the system, promote the desired degree of competition and protect the users right to quality service. The Report of the Study Group is under examination.
Following are some of the key recommendations of the Expert Group:
1. The root cause of financial problem confronting the Indian Railways is found in lack of adequate productivity increases that are commensurate with real wages over time.
2. Indian Railways has to modernize and expand its capacity to serve the emerging needs of the growing economy.
3. Indian Railways has to adopt a “strategic perspective” to achieve high growth in both the passenger and freight segments.
4. Along with achievement of higher growth the Indian Railways will have to explore every avenue of reduction in costs,
5. The Expert Group has made detailed projections for the potential of passenger traffic and revenue growth. Among the possible investment strategies the panel has favored a “High Growth Strategy” which will require focused remunerative investment and corresponding organizational restructuring of Indian Railway internally and in relationship with government, including corporatization.
6. Higher profitability in freight segment through a long term Strategy of improved Speed of freight trains, up-gradation of rolling stock, specific commodity related investment, improved signaling and communication, setting up additional container depots, rationalization of the freight rates structure to remove distortions.
7. Un-remunerative investments must be stopped.
8. Key challenge for Indian Railways in the passenger traffic segments is to maintain its obligations on low price services while at the same time increasing both capacity and utilization in upper classes, through a strategy for higher growth in traffic as well as appropriate tariff rebalancing.
9. The Government of India should be in charge of setting policy direction. Indian Rail Regulatory Authority (IRRA) should be set up to regulate tariffs, Indian Railways must eventually be corporatized into “Indian Railways Corporation” (IRC).
10. Indian Railways Corporation (IRC) would be governed by a reconstituted Indian Railways Executive Board (IREB).
11. Restructuring of Indian Railways will require massive investment.