RDSO affiliates ditch railways
Tuesday - October 23, 2018 10:25 am ,
Category : WTN SPECIAL
(WTN) Indian railway is plagued with operational problems. Tracks are choking due to high density traffic and trains are getting delayed. Many of the bridges are old and vulnerable while the signaling system on several long stretches is old and obsolete. Deaths on railway tracks and in unmanned railway crossings are common. Increasing the speed of trains is being tried for long but we haven’t advanced much. It is one of the largest employers of the world but it is also in the red, juggling between surmounting debts and losses. Several ways to increase revenue have been tried but not with much success.
Now the latest in the series of problems is the lack of wagons with the railways. The national transporter has placed orders with private players for 12,700 wagons to compensate its shortfall in the face of growing competition from road transport goods carriers. The tenders have been opened for a whopping Rs 5,600 crore. Despite a delivery deadline of March 2019, the companies have been able to hand over only some 2000-odd wagons in six months. Given the pace, it is very unlikely that the 10 private players will be able to honour their 2019 deadline and deliver the rest over 9,000 wagons. The major hurdles plaguing the companies is crunch of working capital due to rising steel prices and GST burden etc one the one hand and the shortage/lack of critical components like couplers, drop gears and airbrakes systems from government’s premier RDSO (Research Designs and Standards Organisation)-approved vendors.
It is surprising that despite being an area of priority, RDSO and its vendors have not been able to support the needs of manufacturers to expedite the process. A lion’s share of railway revenues is generated by goods traffic and not passenger traffic. If railways’ goods carrying capacity sags or hits roadblocks, it will be almost impossible for it to sustain its passenger services. A rapidly growing network of high standard four and six lane roads across the country and better connectivity in the hinterlands is lending a major fillip to goods carriers like trucks and containers, rendering railways ineffective and redundant as a carrier. Unless railways augment more and larger wagons and containers to haul larger tranches of goods and unless it ensures fast and timely delivery, businesses will shift their consignments to truckers. This is a major scare that the railways need to ward off.
It needs innovations and cutting edge technology to stay ahead of the competition and if trustworthy and reputable institutions like RDSO and its affiliates delay the processes by late supply etc, railways stands to be ditched. It is time the delay is taken seriously and those accountable for the lapses are questioned and reprimanded. It is a big ticket order and the government must pull out all the stops to expedite the process. When we push for ‘make in India’ and ‘skill India’, we need to enhance the capability and efficiency of our extant organisations as well.
