Suggestions for Exponential Development of Indian Railways 1
Som Karamchetty 2
Outline:
Objective of this paper
Background
Railways for a Developed India
Business Plan for Railways
Role of Technology
Benefits
Recommendations
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Objective of this paper
The author wrote this white paper because he believed that Indian Railways should be
proactive in developing a long term strategic business plan. The span of such a plan should cover
the period until India becomes a developed country. With such an ideal, Indian Railways actually
works with the national economic development plan rather than reacting to the transportation
needs under pressure. This paper suggests some technical examples where significant
accomplishments can be made by the Railways. Being a paper with suggestions, this paper does
not describe detailed tasks and designs.
Background
Beginning on 16th April, 1853 the rail network in India has progressed in leaps and bounds.
Being the premier transport organization of the country and the largest rail network in Asia, and
the world’s second largest under one management, Indian Railways (IR) occupies an important
place in India. It is the vital link from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, and Mumbai to Guwahati. It
spans 63,000 route kilometers with 108,700 track kilometers connecting 6,853 stations along the
way. It ferries 13 million passengers every day (3,867 million in 2007-08 financial year), carried
436 million tonnes of freight in 2007-08 financial year and earned Rupees 38,455 crores. i I
refrain from giving more detailed historical information as such data and information are
available in references. ii
Noteworthy differences exist between the role and status of railway networks in India and the
US. With well-developed road and air networks, and shipping lines, railways share a minor role
in the US. Various rail networks are owned by private companies, which compete for passenger
traffic and freight traffic with other modes of transport. With a high ownership of private
vehicles, people prefer to travel in their own vehicles rather than taking to the trains. They fly by
air for long distance travel as they value their time.
Railways in India play an important role in the transportation of people and goods during
peacetime, wartime, and recoveries from disasters. Lacking in major highways, robust air
1
This document is a rewrite of an earlier draft prepared during 2006-2008.
Engineer, Manager, Business Counselor living in Potomac, MD, USA, som@karamchetty.net,
www.karamchetty.net
2
1
network, and waterways, railways play a significant role in the transportation sector in India. The
Indian rail network is fully owned and operated by the Central government.
The combination of the monopoly and operation by government officials, Indian Railways
tends to be more bureaucratic, non-responsive to customers, and less innovative. Such attitudes
and attributes make the system reactive than proactive, unable to keep pace with a fast
developing global economy and even the national economy. Hence, it is critical for the county’s
political leaders to impress upon the managers of Railways that they are the causers of nation’s
progress and motivate them to put on the hard hats of development.
Railways for a Developed India
Description of a Developed India
People usually talk of what kind of railways a developed India should have. But, it is more
important to realize that a developed railway system, a key part of the transportation
infrastructure, is an essential prerequisite to India attaining a developed status. The Indian
economy had crossed the trillion dollar mark a couple of years ago and the country is expected to
join the ranks of developed nations in three to five decades. Indian leaders have to ask the key
question, ‘What shape should the Indian Railways take during and after the nation’s transition
from a developing country to a developed country?’ While the answers will emerge from an
analysis of the nation’s evolving transportation infrastructure, it is important to do a strategic
analysis of the railways in itself. Typically, various transportation subsectors compete as well as
collaborate among themselves so that the progress in every subsector contributes to a faster
national development. In the transportation of liquids, gases, and bulk materials, other networks,
such as pipelines, also compete with railways. With increasing consciousness towards eco-living,
emphasis is being placed on smart cities and energy efficient infrastructure design, which will
have enormous implications for the future architecture and design of railways and its
components. Appendix A shows charts describing a Developed India to serve as a guide to
Indian Railways for its readiness to be a principal partner in that development.
Indian Railways should develop a strategic plan and a business plan that is in phase with the
Indian economic development plan.
Business Plan for Railways: 3
Mission
A business plan for an organization starts with mission and vision statements. In the case of
the Indian Railways, it is an organization with a hybrid mission.
 It is a business in that it has to make a profit in order to sustain and continue to flourish
forever as the country will need rail transportation for the imaginable future.
 It is a transportation mode vital to national security as it is the best mode to move troops
and security forces to all border areas and interior trouble spots.
 It is a charity as it offers concessional fares to citizens and organizations who cannot
afford to pay standard fares.
 It is a showpiece for the pride of the nation as it projects a welcome image to foreign
tourists and connects them with the nation’s arts, cultures, and traditions.
Hence, Indian Railways will have strategic objectives to fulfill all the above items in its
mission. A business plan is usually developed with objectives and goals for a selected period –
3
It is not the intention here to present a business plan in the conventional format and in detail.
2
usually 3 to 5 years. But, a nationally vital organization like the Railways, the business plan has
to be developed on strategic lines following Ackoff’s strategic plan method. iii In that sense, it
becomes part of a national plan and will be in sync with the nation’s economic development plan
being responsive to the needs of the GDP growth and responding to the demands of the
developed country. Accordingly, a few strategic objectives are identified and discussed below.
Strategic objectives and measures
1. Fulfilling the transportation needs of the fast developing economy of the nation in every
sector and every geographical area:
Traditionally, managers considered connecting city A with city B as the objective. Such an
objective resulted in only a handful of rail lines whistling by vast regions in between. Indian
Railways should set itself the following objectives.
 The maximum distance a citizen has to travel to access a train will be x1 kilometers by
the year y1.
 The maximum time a citizen has to wait for a train will be t1 minutes by the year y2.
The first objective is discussed in a little more detail in Appendix B.
Similar measures may be developed for the progress of freight shipments.
When citizens see such an objective, they can hope that there will come a time when they will
get a better, easier, and faster access to trains and a speedier journey to their chosen destinations.
Likewise, businesses and organizations can tune their plans to the availability, agility, and speed
of the transportation infrastructure. Incidentally, these objectives have quantitative metrics so
that progress can be assessed quantitatively.
Markets are the key drivers of a business plan. But, traditionally government run
organizations (Indian Railways being one such organization) tended to be influenced unduly by
individual and political powers as opposed to markets. Such influences tend to distort the
economics and drag the organizations into losses. On the other hand, when plans are
synchronized with current and emerging markets, revenue and profits will be attractive and
sustaining. Thus, growth and allocation of new rail lines and capacities should be coordinated
with economic (as well as other) developments in the mission. Contemporary ideas relative to
growth corridors and rapid freight lines are broadly in sync with these objectives but the trains
have to stop and deal with cargo at the intermediate points rather than treat them as painted
stations. Technical ideas for frequent stops as well as faster freight train are discussed in the
section on sub-containers in this white paper.
2. Minimization of Capital and Operating costs:
Once the long term growth objective is laid out, requirements for capital equipment (including
land, technology, and management) and means for operation and maintenance (including labor)
can be forecast and projected. Such a method would allow for long term acquisition decisions.
For example, instead of ad hoc buying of equipment, manufacturers can be encouraged and
attracted to set up large production bases, which would be mutually beneficial. Likewise,
technical and management workforce can be predicted, trained in advanced skills needed by an
emerging system.
3. Energy:
Realizing that the type and amount of energy are keys to a transportation system, planned
growth would allow the energy infrastructure to meet the Railways’ needs in time. It also allows
for increased operational methods so that minimal energy consumption is achieved through
efficiency improvements.
3
4. Real Estate and Right of Way:
Rail transportation system takes significant amount of land thus adding to the cost of the
system. Traditionally, Indian Railways was able to garner vast stretches of land it needed or
wanted. Such a scenario is not possible in a fast growing India where land is under severe
demand by various sectors simultaneously.
Together with the need for the amount of land, right of way is also a significant issue. It is
important to note that a train cannot negotiate steep gradients because of its mass and moment of
inertia. Historically, Railways overcame this disadvantage by claiming a right of way and forcing
cross traffic to come to a full stop and keep the line clear for a train to pass. As the frequency of
trains increases it would force the Railways to resort to cooperative and collaborative uses of
land and the right of way. A potential solution is suggested in the section on Role of Technology.
5. Safety & Security:
When people undertake a journey, and when organizations send shipments, they expect the
people and goods reach their destinations on time, and in a safe and secure manner. Indian
Railways have to set metrics for these objectives, analyze the causes for deviations, and institute
measures to accomplish a record safe and secure transportation system.
6. Experience:
When people and organizations interact with a system, such as Railways, they are looking for
a pleasant experience and not a vexing endurance test. The concept of experience includes how a
traveler is treated at various points of his journey; how comfortable the journey is; what facilities
(food, water, sanitation) are available during the journey; and how timely, relevant, and accurate
information is available to him during all phases of a journey. Shippers would like their goods
transported on time in a safe and secure manner at reasonable costs. An analysis of what
constitutes experience is discussed briefly in the section on Role of Technology and in Appendix
C.
7. Cost:
In a successful enterprise, a business makes handsome profits while customers enjoy
affordable prices. This is a win-win situation. Such a situation is possible by reducing the costs
for the enterprise. The capacity factors, load factors, productivity of workforce, elimination of
redundant steps, and institution of relevant management initiatives would contribute to mutually
advantageous outcomes. While some people have no choice when they like to travel, yet others
may have such flexibility. Indian Railways may offer them the opportunity with incentives to
travel during lean periods thus improving the load factor. A similar scenario applies to freight
also. For special occasions, Indian Railways may offer crowdsourced special trains. The method
is described in the section on Role of Technology.
8. Revenue and profits:
As a business, Indian Railways should expect to increase its revenue and profits over time.
This would imply improvements in market, market share, reductions in costs associated with
acquisition, installation, energy, and operating, and maintenance costs.
9. Employees:
Every organization depends on its employees to accomplish its mission. It is critically so with
Indian Railways. It is important to inculcate a strong sense for achieving the mission in the
employees. When they understand how their individual performance contributes to the mission,
employees perform appropriately. The system safety, security, customer experience, and the
bottom line will improve when employees are trained, informed, and treated well.
10. Intermodal collaboration:
4
It should be very simple for citizens to use different modes of transportation during their
journey since, usually, no single mode can take them all the way. For example, train stations, bus
stations, airport terminals, and seaports should be collocated so that people merely walk from
one terminal to the other without using other minor transportation modes (such as rickshas and
taxis). The systems should handle luggage and baggage from source to destination so that
travelers need not haggle with porters at intermediate and transshipment points.
11. Optimal use of Resources
Indian Railways has significant land resources where it plies now and will need additional
land resources as it grows in newer geographies. Hence, the Railway leadership has to develop
new methods and technologies to use land in a collaborative manner with local communities
through which the rail lines pass. Some possible technical solutions are discussed in the section
on the Role of Technology.
12. Serving the Rural Communities and Farmers
The record of the Indian Railways with respect to rural communities is abysmal. Since
planning of rail lines has always focused on connecting urban centers, or mine heads to industrial
plants or ports, the intermediate points (villages and towns) are ignored. While the urban
travelers sleep on comfortable berths, rural folks trying to enter the trains find closed doors or
forced to travel in crowded general compartments. The few passenger trains crawl slowly while
yielding the way to the faster intercity trains.
Farmers need fast and protected transportation of their produce to the markets. By
incorporating several technical features, Indian Railways can serve the rural communities better.
This aspect may be considered as its social responsibility to the rural communities as well as to
prevent unnecessary migration of rural people to towns and cities. The design of small sized
containers (sub-containers) is suggested in the section Role of Technology.
A business plan also contains a financial plan or a resource plan. Plan goals and deliverables
are selected or milestones are set based on resource availability from various sources. I refrained
from discussing those details here at this time.
Role of Technology:
In a plan with strategic objectives for Indian Railways, technology plays a critical role. It can
be a key enabler in accomplishing the objectives set in the plan. As new technologies emerge, it
may be possible to accomplish objectives faster. Being a dynamic document, a business plan gets
revised periodically. The application of certain exemplary technologies to accomplish selected
objectives is described in this section.
Technology Example 1
Redesign of Road Crossings:
Historically, trains enjoyed the right of way and cross road traffic had to stop at level
crossings. Manned and unmanned level crossings contribute to frequent accidents. Claiming
historical rights and dominance, Indian railways imposes burdens on local communities to build
road over bridges or underpasses or the cross road traffic is made to wait at the level crossings.
Road traffic is subjected to inordinate interruptions at level crossings. Such a situation was a
small inconvenience when only a few trains passed an intersection in a day. (See Figures 1 to 4)
5
Figure 1: Rail tracks divide communities.
But as the rail traffic increases and hundreds of trains pass a village or a town, they impede
the life in those communities. Impatient drivers, bikers, and pedestrians take risks to cross the
rail lines in a hurry and cause serious accidents.
Figure 2: Frequent and long trains become serious impediments to road traffic at level crossings.
6
Figure 3: Frequency of trains benefits train passengers but obstructs road traffic at level
crossings.
Figure 4: Road over bridges eliminate the obstruction caused by frequent and lengthy trains at
level crossings.
In downtowns of major cities in the Western nations, such a situation was avoided by moving
the rail lines underground. But, such a solution is expensive to retrofit in India. But, an
alternative is to build crossings that also house other facilities. Figure 5 shows a sketch of such
an arrangement. By building multistory buildings at every road crossing and rail stations on the
PPP model, the facilities could be used for passenger platforms, rest facilities, hotels, restaurants,
warehouses, and businesses, which are sorely needed in road transportation now. Such multistory buildings at rail stations, station stops, and prior level crossings could span over the tracks
and connect both sides of the track so that the local community is not dissected.
Figure 5: Locating a multistory building at cross roads makes for a flyover for road traffic.
7
Land Holdings:
Indian Railways have significant land holdings at rail stations. In big cities like Delhi,
Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, and scores of other cities, train stations, tracks also occupy highly
expensive real estate. In corresponding urban situations in the US (e.g. New York City, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia) the rail tracks were laid underground. India cannot
follow the Western practice of laying the tracks underground at these locations now. But, it can
explore the construction of multistory buildings over the station complex and arching over the
tracks on a PPP basis.
For example, at the Howrah rail station there are 15 or so platforms and tracks. The large
number of tracks goes on for about five or ten miles before they progressively narrow down to
about four tracks. That is about 50 million square feet of plinth area. By erecting five-story
buildings, the country can gain 250 million square feet of prime residential or office space in a
Tier 1 city like Kolkata. In essence, the tracks go underground by erecting multistory buildings
on top.
In Tier 2 cities and smaller towns, Railways can use some of the floor area for the station and
rest facilities and lease the rest of the built-up space to local private offices, shops, hotels,
restaurants. Traditionally, rail stations are built away from towns and villages with living
facilities (mostly detached homes) built next to the rail stations for the Railway staffs and
workers. Gradually, other hamlets have cropped up around the stations. It is advantageous for the
Railways to build multi-story housing and building complexes surrounding the stations so that
satellite townships develop there thus utilizing the land optimally.
In Tier 1 cities, even conference centers and luxury hotels can be built at stations (just as they
do at airports in the West). This arrangement releases much needed real estate for commercial
uses and Railways makes good income. This arrangement is applicable even in small towns and
by building ramps as described earlier (Figure 5). Such construction reintegrates otherwise
bisected local neighborhoods.
Technology Example 2.
Isolating Tracks for Bullet Trains:
Currently, the rail track is not isolated from access by animals and vagrants. When the
planned bullet trains whiz past, there will be neither time for animals to move off the tracks nor
to warn intruding people. Such a situation will be ripe for serious accidents and agitations.
Conventional practice would suggest the erection of chain link fences on both sides of the track
once again dividing communities. A friendlier, safe, and economic method can be developed. By
building concrete block protection walls on both sides of the track, Railways might invite local
businesses, farmers, and citizens to build lean-to sheds from those walls for their specific uses on
a leasehold basis. Such structures can be used to store farm produce, to locate animals, to site
shops, and so on. 4
Indian Railways may go even one more step and place solar PV panels on the roofs of such
lean to sheds and share the resulting energy with the local communities. Figure 6 shows a
typical arrangement. With such an arrangement, a 1,000 mile track between Chennai and
Howrah can provide roof area of about 60 million square feet for solar PV panels and 300,000
4
Prudence requires that Indian Railways caution the leaseholders that high speed trains will generate noise and there
is a small probability of accommodation needed in case of accidents.
8
sheds of 200 square feet each for the local farmers. With a suitable roof design, rain water can be
harvested from the roofs. Such an arrangement would be the CSR (Corporate Social
Responsibility) of Railways.
At appropriate intervals, bridges over the rails should be built so that local traffic can move
without potential intrusions on to the tracks. By manufacturing such walls at factories, and by
working with MGNREGA program managers, such walls would benefit the Railways as well as
the rural communities.
Figure 6: Walls on both sides of the tracks for Bullet Trains supporting Lean-to sheds with solar
panels on the roofs.
Technology example 3
Experience:
In general, the meals and refreshments served by Indian Railways catering service are neither
of great taste nor of good quality. The demand for refreshments and meals at major stations is
very high. Like the airlines, the Indian Railways may include the cost of meals and/or
refreshments in the price of the ticket, and serve good quality meals. Indian Railways could
9
make arrangements with social welfare and charitable groups such as, Naandi 5 and Akshaya
Patra 6 to prepare meals at rural locations with modern and hygienic equipment and deliver them
to the railway caters for sale at stations. This method would remove the unorganized and
substandard suppliers at many stations thus improving hygiene and quality. Experience with food
on trains is also covered under Morphological analysis in Appendix C.
Technology example 4
Crowdsourcing 7 the need for special trains and special services:
Social and religious groups usually apply and get special bogies or trains especially for that
group to take tours of their choice. Indian Railways may set up a crowdsourcing service. In this
arrangement, people may choose to form ad hoc groups with a request for a special train for a
certain occasion of their choice. Usually, festivals, sports events, certain cultural shows might
attract people to ask for a special train. With an initiator or sponsor and several otherwise
unconnected people might express their interest and join the need for a special service. Indian
Railways may accommodate them with a set charge for the journey. This method would be
advantageous as the groups form autonomously and railways will supply the requested service
and also make good revenue.
Technology example 5
Mass Production of road over bridges or underpasses
Indian Railways should plan to install road over bridges or underpasses one every 200 yards
of the track in cities, one every 500 yards in towns, and one in every two miles in rural areas.
That will mean several hundred thousand bridges and the structures become good candidates for
factory based manufacture. Indian Railways or their contractors already have experience with
such manufacturing techniques. (See Figure 7.)
Figure 7: Concrete structures being installed at the Cauvery junction in Bangalore iv
Technology example 6
5
http://www.naandi.org/
http://www.akshayapatra.org/
7
Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions
from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional
employees or suppliers. Reference: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crowdsourcing
6
10
Sub-containers:
Indian Railways can help the rural farmers in a big way by developing sub-containers and
using them to transport rural produce. Containerization 8 has helped global trade as well as local
trade in the West. In order to take advantage of that concept, India has to develop containers of
smaller sizes. Currently, freight trains and passenger trains with freight coaches stop at stations
and porters load and unload smaller shipments requiring the train to stop for an inordinately long
time at a station. Such delay adds to the travel time, increases idle time of the trains and tracks.
With containerization, the train needs to stop only a few minutes to roll the container on or off
the train. But, each small station may not have sufficient produce to fill a conventionally large (8
feet by 8 feet by 20 or 40 feet) container (Figure 8). By developing and adapting smaller
containers (Figures 9 to 15), Indian Railways can have their freight trains stop at rail stations at
small towns and load or unload sub-containers in minutes. Local farmers could transport such
sub-containers using local utility vehicles or small trucks. By working with local governments,
retailers, and agricultural departments, Indian Railways can bring about a revolution in
connecting farmers to urban consumers. Such a scenario has enormous social implications and
fulfills some of the objectives set for Railways. Since time, space, inventory, rolling stocks, and
freight are money, Railways will benefit from the adoption of sub-containers.
Figure 8: Figure showing a schematic of a standard container.
8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermodal_container
11
Figure 9: Two sub-containers fit into or in pace of a standard container or on a flatbed.
Figure 10: A Half-size sub-container can be offloaded by a truck to or from a freight loading
platform at a train station.
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Figure 11: A One-Third-size sub-container can be offloaded by a truck to or from a freight
loading platform at a train station, permitting smaller loads.
Figure 12: A Quarter-size sub-container accommodates even smaller loads.
Figure 13: Farmers and rural merchants can load containers with local produce including milk by
adding cooling facilities.
13
Figure 14: Small utility vehicles can be used to move the sub-containers to urban consumers and
farm supplies to fields.
Figure 15: Capsules are provided with eyelets at the bottom to make them easy to roll-on or -off
platforms, and floors of containers and truck beds. Straps and quick action anchor bolts fix
capsules to floors while in transit.
It may be noted that in the US, plant nurseries use capsules (See Figure B3) to load plants into
those capsules and transport them in containers and tractor trailers to retail stores, where the
plants are sold directly out of the capsules. Such handling protects the plants and creates jobs in
rural nurseries. On international airlines, meal trays are packed into capsules, loaded onto planes,
and served directly out of the capsules. Lately, such capsules (called pods) are used in assisting
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families as they move their household goods. Both rural and urban Indians will benefit from the
general concept while utilizing sub-containers.
Technical Example 7
BioProcessing of Human Waste Generated on Trains
With billions of passengers traveling in trains, handling and disposal of human waste is a
major problem for Indian Railways. In collaboration with IIT, Kanpur, v Indian Railways started
the design of green toilets for passenger trains. The transmission and proper disposal of such
waste is still a big problem. It is possible to set up bioprocessing facilities to treat that waste.
Indian Railways may offload such waste at locations that are about 300 miles apart and have
bioprocessing plants process them into energy and manure. The manure may be used to grow
plants which can also be processed into biodiesel. By leasing the equipment and land for these
plants, and by buying the biodiesel back from the producers, Indian Railways will be able to
convert waste into energy and also create jobs and businesses. A more detailed description is
available in a concept paper (proposal) by the author. 9
Benefits:
By developing a strategic business plan, suggested in this paper, Indian Railways will be able
to work in concert with the national economic development plan. In fact, it will be helping the
national plan and national progress and will not become a hindrance to national GDP growth. It
will be trendsetter to other sectors of the national economy. It will also be able to stake a claim
for a higher share of the transportation infrastructure.
By recognizing the advantage of advanced technologies, Indian Railways will be able to
acquire and/or develop technologies especially needed for its progress. As suggested in the
Morphological analysis (Appendix C), by understanding the variety of needs of its potential
passengers and shippers, Railways will be able to train and equip its managers and employees to
cater to the needs of the customers of the system. That situation should increase its revenue and
decrease its costs thus increasing profits. By a collaborative and cooperative approach to other
modes of transport, Indian Railways would be able to lead the national transportation
infrastructure for the good of the country.
Recommendations:
Indian Railways should develop a strategic long term business plan for its growth in sync with
national plan. It should expand on the suggestions made in this white paper by conducting a full
scale analysis of the methods and emerging technologies, developing concepts, and by scoping
projects. Incorporating such projects into the business plan Railways and the nation would
benefit in the nation’s path towards a developed country in the next three to five decades.
9
http://www.karamchetty.net/railways.html
15
Appendix A 10
Description of a Developed India to serve as a guide to Indian Railways for its Readiness
While it has made enormous progress in the last six decades, Indian Railways needs to make
giant strides so that it can play its due role as India becomes a developed country. Indian
Railways has to make exponential and exemplary progress and not be satisfied with linear and
just good progress. Indian Railways will surely benefit as the Indian economy progresses. But
true Rail visionaries will visualize Indian Railways laying the track and supplying the motive
power to cause economic progress.
Dr. Abdul Kalam, then president of India had advocated the vision of a developed India in 20
to 30 years. vi It is important to analyze the implications of that goal explicitly. Such an analysis
may start with the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council’s estimate of India's gross
domestic product at $902 billion, (2006-07) as the basis. vii If India grows its GDP by 13.8 times,
it brings the country to the US GDP level (2005) of $12.4 trillion. Since Indian population is
about three times that of the US, Indian GDP has to grow to $37 trillion (41.4 times its 2006-07
level) so that Indians reach the per capita level of the US (2005). viii At a 10% compounded
annual growth rate, it takes nearly forty years to accomplish a growth of 41.4 times, which is
indeed stupendous progress.
Accompanying the growth of the GDP, there will be a massive shift in the type of goods and
services produced as India moves towards its goal of a developed country status through the
revolutionary GDP growth. For instance, it is possible that instead of exporting raw material,
India may be exporting finished machinery and importing raw material in place of finished
goods. Periodic updating of the analysis would address such changes.
Since the US is a leader among developed countries, it will be very instructive at this juncture
to examine the relative contributions by various sectors to the US GDP using the US 2005 data
and project it three times (as India has about thrice the US population) to depict the anticipated
GDP of a developed India as shown in Table A1. Transportation and warehousing contributed
2.92 per cent of the US GDP. This should serve as an indicator to the leadership of the Indian
Railways where they should be aiming at. A dynamic economy, as opposed to an agrarian
economy, is characterized by high mobility of its people and goods. As a leader in the
transportation sector in India, Indian Railways have to continue to lead, maintain its leadership,
and fulfill its obligation to the Indian economy as it takes giant strides in the next four or five
decades.
The sectorial distribution of US employment is presented in Table A2. Since its population is
about three times as large as that of the US, Indian employment distribution, in its developed
state, is likely to be as shown in Table A3. This later table shows that the Transportation and
warehousing sector provided 13.1 million or 3.1 per cent of the jobs. Indian Railways employed
1.5 million people in 2002. ix The implication of this information is that the Indian Railways and
the other components of the Transportation sector will have to increase their contribution to the
Indian GDP to about 1Trillion dollars along with providing jobs to a number of people while
increasing their productivity manifold. This is achievable through the application of technology,
knowledge and skill-intensive work force, and superior leadership and management.
10
Som Karamchetty conducted this analysis in 2006 and the results in the tables reflect the dollar to rupee
conversion rates of that time. An up to date analysis may be conducted for results that should reflect current GDP
values and exchange rates. As website owners change their websites over time, some links may not be current.
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From a reading of the Status Paper of the Indian Railways, it is obvious that Indian Railways
wants to be the leader among the various components in the transportation sector because of its
energy efficiency and the primacy it already enjoys. Table A4 shows that in the US, the Rail
transportation component had a share of 9.4 per cent while the truck transportation component
held a 33.1 per cent share of the transportation sector. This fact shows that the Indian Railways
have to be aggressively competitive with respect to the other sectors in order to keep their
primacy. But, at the same time, it should be realized that a rail track can neither go to every
citizen’s front yard nor to every shop’s front porch. Consequently, Indian Railways has to work
with the Indian road network to provide the Indian economy with the most modern, efficient,
convenient, and integrated transportation network that a developed India deserves and needs.
Table A1: Contributions by various sectors to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the US
economy (2005 data) x and projected data for a Developed India with a 37 Trillion dollar
economy.
Contribution by Sector
US in
Percent of A
2005
National
Developed
GDP
India
Billions
Billions of
of US
US
Dollars
Dollars
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing:
119
0.96
357
Mining
214
1.73
642
Utilities
239
1.93
717
Construction
594
4.79
1,782
Durable Goods, Manufacturing
868
7.00
2,604
Nondurable goods, manufacturing
628
5.06
1,884
Wholesale trade
733
5.91
2,199
Retail trade
829
6.69
2,487
Transportation and warehousing
362
2.92
1,086
Information
578
4.66
1,734
Finance and Insurance
1,012
8.16
3,036
Real estate, rental, leasing
1,563
12.60
4,689
Professional and technical services
862
6.95
2,586
Management of companies
231
1.86
693
Administrative and waste services
375
3.02
1,125
Educational services
113
0.91
339
Healthcare and social assistance
864
6.97
2,592
Arts, entertainment and recreation
118
0.95
354
Accommodation and food services
338
2.73
1,014
Other services
295
2.38
885
Government
1,475
11.90
4,425
TOTAL GDP
12,400
100
37,200
17
Table A2: Employees (both full time and part time) in various industries in the US (2005). xi
Industry Title
Thousands Percent
All industries
141,218
100.00
1,473
1.04
Mining
564
0.40
Utilities
554
0.39
7,567
5.36
Manufacturing
14,328
10.15
Wholesale trade
5,850
4.14
15,763
11.16
Transportation and warehousing
4,379
3.10
Information
3,079
2.18
Finance and insurance
6,101
4.32
Real estate and rental and leasing
2,207
1.56
Professional and business services
17,384
12.31
2,911
2.06
15,021
10.64
Arts, entertainment, and recreation
1,981
1.40
Accommodation and food services
11,027
7.81
Other services, except government
6,901
4.89
24,128
17.09
Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting
Construction
Retail trade
Educational services
Health care and social assistance
Government
Table A3: Projection of Indian employment by industry in a developed India with a population
of over one billion.
Industry Title
Employment Percent
Thousands
All industries
423,654
100.00
Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting
4,419
1.04
Mining
1,692
0.40
Utilities
1,662
0.39
18
Construction
22,701
5.36
Manufacturing
42,984
10.15
Wholesale trade
17,550
4.14
Retail trade
47,289
11.16
Transportation and warehousing
13,137
3.10
9,237
2.18
18,303
4.32
Real estate and rental and leasing
6,621
1.56
Professional and business services
52,152
12.31
8,733
2.06
45,063
10.64
Arts, entertainment, and recreation
5,943
1.40
Accommodation and food services
33,081
7.81
Other services, except government
20,703
4.89
Government
72,384
17.09
Information
Finance and insurance
Educational services
Health care and social assistance
Table A4: Contributions to the US GDP by various components in the US transportation sector xii and
projected contributions of sectors in a Developed India.
Industry
Value added by
sector to US
GDP in 2005
Per cent of Total
in the
Transportation
sector
Value added by
sector to a
Developed
India’s GDP
Million Dollars
344,636
40,994
32,269
9,033
114,129
100
11.8
9.4
2.6
33.1
1,033,908
122,982
96,807
27,099
342,387
17,117
9,324
5.0
2.7
51,351
27,972
89,071
32,698
25.8
9.5
267,213
98,094
Million Dollars
Transportation and
warehousing
Air transportation
Rail transportation
Water transportation
Truck transportation
Transit and ground
passenger transportation
Pipeline transportation
Other transportation and
support activities
Warehousing and storage
Table A4 shows that in a developed India in about forty years from now, the Rail
transportation sector should contribute at least about 97 billion dollars to a developed economy.
In 2007-08 financial year, Indian Railways earned Rupees 38,455 crores i.e. about 9.6 billion
19
dollars. This projects a growth requirement of ten times its current value. Since other
transportation sectors in India have not as developed as the Railways, Indian Railways has an
opportunity to grow and contribute a greater proportion to the Indian GDP than its counterpart in
the US economy. Indian Railways may, in fact, keep its 30 percent contribution rate in a
developed India. In the latter case, Indian Railways will have to contribute nearly 300 billion
dollars or 30 times its 2007-08 earnings. This scenario shows a need for exponential progress and
a need for strategic planning at a high level for the Indian Railways. Some ideas are suggested in
the Role of Technical section of this white paper. Infrastructure development is already on the
top agenda of the Government of India. But infrastructure does not simply mean more tracks and
roads, but a coordinated and integrated development of safe, secure, and efficient inter-modal
system of transportation. The methods and technologies of developed countries may not be
merely copied but newer models should be evolved to suit the Indian conditions and needs.
If the economy develops at a 10 percent growth rate annually, Indian Railways should be
leading that development by setting higher goals as it is the pace setter in transportation.
20
Appendix B
Citizen-friendly Objectives and Goals
For example, we may ask, “What is the distance a person has to travel by other means to reach
the nearest rail station?” As the Indian Railways expands, this distance should become
progressively smaller over time. Such a question might lead to goals for growth measures as
follows.
Goal 1: Any point in the country should have a railhead within X kilometers.
Goal 2: No group of N1 numbers of passengers should wait for more than T1 hours for a long
distance train.
Goal 3: Suburban traffic: Any point in the greater metro area should have a railhead within Y
meters.
Goal 4: No group of N2 numbers of suburban passengers should wait for more than T2 minutes
for a suburban train. The values for X, Y, N1, T1, N2, T2 will vary as Indian Railways achieves
progress. In another way of saying the same thing is that these values should indicate the
progress of the Railways.
Figure B1 shows two of these measures graphically. As more rail lines and trains per line are
added, the distance to the nearest rail station and the wait time for the next train decrease over
time.
2026
Figure B1: Graphical Depiction of Measures of Progress.
21
Figure B2 shows a map of the Indian Railways network with grid lines superposed to
illustrate the extensiveness and easily reachable rail network to most people as the Indian
Railways expands exponentially.
Figure B2: Map of India with grid lines superposed on it showing a future Indian Rail Network.
A circle, the radius of which is the maximum distance one has to travel to reach a railhead. xiii
As more rail lines are added, this circle will shrink. Given the geography of India, East-West
lines (in the South) will connect the hinterland to the sea ports as well as the cities, towns, and
rural regions along the way. The North-South lines will connect the cities, towns, and rural
regions.
Indian Railways should analyze and determine how many miles of its track pass through busy
cities, towns, and major villages and bisecting them in the process. Realizing that such bisection
22
of localities impedes local transportation by other modes (e.g. foot and road traffic), Indian
Railways should develop measures to reconnect these divided neighborhoods. Another critical
area is intersections between rail tracks and with major and minor roads. Where there are level
crossings, Indian Railways should develop measures for the waiting time of cross traffic or the
non-availability of the road for cross traffic as percent of each hour and the day. This measure
should be brought down significantly as the Indian Railways grow either by building innovative
road over- or under-bridges.
Traditionally rail lines are planned to connect point A to point B, where, A and B are major
cities, such as Delhi and Mumbai. In the recent past, Indian Railways has launched many special
trains interconnecting several major cities. This is generally a welcome trend. But in the long
run, this trend may not be optimal. In Western nations, train travel between distant cities is not
favored any more. Airline travel has displaced train travel as business people find that the time
saved is more valuable to them than the cheaper train fares. (Note the saying, ‘Time is money.’)
With airline deregulations and the introduction of no-frills airlines, even the airfares are
competitive with the trains. Indian Railways may also face this competitive phenomenon in the
next decade or two and should be prepared for that eventuality. In that event, Indian Railways
should try to connect to major airport locations and transport airline passengers to regional
towns.
Airlines handle passenger luggage once they check it in at the boarding location. One may
argue that it is essential as aircrafts are not designed to carry luggage in the cabins. In the
Western countries, operators of trains and buses also take charge of the passengers’ luggage and
deliver it to them at the time of their disembarkation. Indian Railways should consider this option
as it is cumbersome for passengers to carry their luggage into the compartments and watch over
their safety during the journey. It is quite common to see luggage hanging precariously from the
narrow overhead luggage racks with people sitting under them oblivious to the possibility of the
luggage dropping on their heads.
Indian Railways may also develop another measure for its contribution to India’s social
development. This measure will be the number of villages connected by the rail network. There
may be a train stop in a village or people of the village may have to travel certain distance to
reach a train station. This measure should decrease progressively as Indian Railways expands
into rural areas, as more stations are added, and as more trains stop at village stations.
There is a strong economic relationship between a city and the villages that surround that city.
The villages supply most of the food resources needed by the city and in many cases, the villages
supply the labor requirements of the city. The ton-miles of village produce delivered to the city
by the railways are a good measure of the service provided to the villages by the Indian
Railways. This number should increase with time.
There are several management innovations possible here. Traditionally, rural farmers bring
their produce (such as vegetables, fruits, grains, milk products, and spices) to the city. Indian
Railways could introduce a system where the necessity for the rural producer to travel with the
product can be minimized and ultimately eliminated. A modified or refined process of the
Mumbai’s Dabbawallas should be explored. Rural producers may pack their produce in
packages and a chain of Dabbawallas may deliver them to the railways, who will in turn deliver
the packages to several Dabbawallas at stations in the city, who will deliver them to consumers
who ordered such products. It is also possible that Indian Railways may work with rural
producers and supermarket chains and restaurants in cities. Indian Railways can work with Self
23
Help Groups (SHG) and set up web sites connecting rural sellers and urban buyers while the
Railways facilitate the transport of fresh produce.
During the last two or three decades, business leaders have focused increasingly on their core
competencies and outsourcing all other logistics functions to other companies. For example,
these other companies are offering door-to-door logistics services. By placing themselves in that
context, a progressive Indian Railways management will have to provide end-to-end services to
small and big businesses. It is possible that Indian Railways will partner with other logistics
companies in providing such extended services.
In the US, the post office actually helps rural farmers to ship seedlings to urban kitchen
gardens and nurseries. The service is provided at very cheap rates as it sustains rural farmers on
the one hand and keeps the cities green on the other. During early spring truck-loads of potted
plants are shipped from sunny climates and green houses to northern areas. The pots are placed
in trolleys and the whole trolleys are loaded into trucks and shipped interstate. The trolleys
(Figure B3) are offloaded directly at the urban nurseries and supermarkets. This process
minimizes handling in cities as all the display-ready trolleys are packed on the rural farms where
the labor is cheap.
Figure B3: Carts like these are transported in semi-trailers (containers) from farm to retail
shops in the US. (xiv)
24
Appendix C
Morphological Analysis of Indian Railways, its Mission and Business Opportunities
In a competitive market place, customers evaluate experience in addition to price and quality
of the product or service they get from a business. Indian Railways should provide good
experience to its customers throughout the interaction with customers. Experience starts way
before a person plans a journey or thinks of shipping a product and lingers long after the journey
is completed and the products are received at the other end. Morphological Analysis is a good
technique to understand the factors that have an effect on experience.
Fred Zwicky xv described the application of the Morphological approach to a number of
problems and generated solutions. Zwicky’s technique involves the identification of components
involved in a system and exploring alternatives that make up the components. We may put
together combinations with these components and alternatives and realize a large number of
cases or solutions. Thus, Zwicky’s Morphological technique allows us to capture any and all
cases of actions into a generic framework using the components and alternative instances for the
components. The advantage of the Morphological analysis is that it allows us to construct
generic models from specific cases. When we discover generic solutions to generic problems, the
solutions can also be instantiated for a variety of specific situations. This technique is applicable
to several different aspects of the operations of a business. I am focusing on Experience only at
this time.
In order to develop the parameters for this analysis, first we may take a somewhat simplified
look at the processes involved in a passenger’s travel, as shown in Figure C1.
Reserve
Ticket
Wait
Board
Luggage
Journey
Disembark
Facilities
Meals
Figure C1: Component Processes a Traveler goes through in a Train Journey.
The corresponding set of processes for the journey of freight is shown in Figure C2.
Reserve
Deliver
Invoice
Load
Journey
Unload
Receive
Environment
Figure C2: Component Processes a Shipper and a Package go through.
We may further analyze the various types of people that undertake the journeys on trains as
shown in Figure C3. Such an analysis is important as the requirements of children are different
from those of adults.
25
The corresponding analysis for freight is shown in Figure C4. There are activities like
exchanges between Railway officials and employees and passengers shown in Figures C5.
Railways
People &
Freight
People
Urban
Transitors
Freight
Tourists
Rural
• Religious
• Historic
• International
• Eco/ Sports
• Groups
• Airlines
• Ships
• Bus
• Trekking
Rural to Rural
Urban to Suburban
• Commuters
• Business
• Work
• Pleasure
• Education
• Visits
Metro to Metro
• Farming
• Markets
• Business
• Work
Urban to Rural
• Business
• Work
• Pleasure
• Education
• Visits
Rural to Urban
• Markets
• Business
• Work
• Markets
• Business
• Work
• Pleasure
• Development
Figure C3: Various types of Passengers Using the Railways shown as a Network Tree.
Railways
People &
Freight
People
Raw Material
Agricultur
e
Intermediate
s
Processed
Animal
s
Freight
Foo
d
Manufacture
d
Export
s
Imports
Figure C4: Various types of Shipments Using the Railways shown as a Network Tree.
26
Railways
People
&
Freight
People
Freight
Hand
Baggage
Luggage
Food
Other
Figure C5: Types of Items that Travelers and Railways Exchange along a journey.
While the above information is shown as a network of trees, the same information can be
represented in the form of a list of lists. Figure C6 shows the Origin and Destination components
and alternatives for each category. Various combinations can subsequently be selected by
choosing one item from each list; one such combination is shown with circles marking the
selection (a Suburban Passenger on his/her way to the Airport) shown in Figure C7. We can
address questions relating to the criteria people use when they undertake a journey. We can also
analyze data on various combinations. For example, we can ask what other transportation mode
will be competing for their business and what transportation modes will be supplementing the
services of the railways with a view to developing strategies for competition and for
collaboration.
Load
Passengers
Freight
Origin
Destination
City
Suburb
Rural
Mine
Field
Factory
Market
Factory
Port
Airport
Bus Depot
City
Suburb
Rural
Mine
Field
Factory
Market
Factory
Port
Airport
Bus Depot
Figure C6: List of Lists of Components shown earlier in a tree net.
27
Figure C7: A Selected Combination marked by Circles.
Figure C8 shows the criteria that are employed by the railways and by passengers or
customers. Such lists of criteria are important to identify where conflicts may arise and where
expectations can be managed before frustration sets in on either side.
Passenger’s criteria
Railways’ Criteria
Low cost
Fast travel
Convenience
Maximum comfort
Good safety
Security
High profit
Low cost
High productivity
High efficiency
Large load factor
Figure C8: Criteria used by the Passengers and the Railways in their Interactions.
28
During the various phases of their journey, passengers have a variety of activities with
expectations (Figure C9). They have different concerns. Initially, they worry if they will get a
reservation or not. During the journey, they wonder if the train would arrive on time or would
they miss their connection. Some of these concerns are shown in Figure C10. The types of
passengers are shown in C11 as the interests and concerns and therefore expectations are
different for different passengers. Indian Railways should do such analysis in detail as the results
allow them to take measures it can take to make it attractive for passengers to choose and
become loyal rail customers. It also allows Railway managers and staffs to respond to situations
as they occur rather than coping with public reaction after events occur.
Figure C9: Types of Experience Expectations of Passengers during the Journey component of the
Process.
29
Figures C10: Passengers’ Concerns during a Journey
Figures C11: Types of Passengers.
As stated in the beginning of this Appendix, one deals with innumerable number of concerns
and expectations but Morphological analysis brings them under a framework, which makes it
easier for Railways to address methodically. It may be noted that a complete analysis is not
30
attempted here as the author’s intention was merely to show the combinations that can be
enumerated by this method.
31
End Notes 11
i
http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/
http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-hist.html
http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-history2.html
http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-history3.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Railways
http://www.answers.com/topic/indian-railways
http://www.trainweb.org/indiarail/ttable.htm
http://www.indiacore.com/railways.html
http://www.irfca.org/faq/
http://www.raildwar.com/
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/brochures/indiarr/indiarr.pdf
http://www.it.indianrail.gov.in/coabrief.htm
http://indianrailways.gov.in/cert/Cert.htm
http://www.cs.memphis.edu/~santosh/Papers/IndianRailways.pdf
http://www2.nortel.com/go/news_detail.jsp?cat_id=-8055&oid=100206237&locale=en-US
http://www.cmcltd.com/case_studies/transportation/fois.htm
ii
Russell L. Ackoff, Elsa Vergara Finnel, and Jamshid Gharajedaghi, “A Guide to Controlling Your Corporation’s
Future”, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1984, ISBN 0-471-88213-5.
iv
http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/21/stories/2008012150130100.htm
v
http://www.livemint.com/Industry/TS5codp9EKWM7QZLShXiEM/IIT-Kanpur-scientists-develop-green-toiletsfor-trains.html
iii
vi
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030126/spectrum/main2.htm
vii
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/34707
viii
Actually, India would still not catch up with the US, as the US GDP would have risen in the
meantime and the Indian inflation rates and population increase would also impact the results.
For simplicity sake, the current author has taken the liberty of using data from different years in
these illustrative calculations and made comparisons. On the other hand, with smart utilization of
emerging technologies and choices of living patterns, Indians may enjoy better standard of living
even at lower GDP levels.
ix
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aMq8CgWY6co4
x
http://bea.gov/bea/newsrelarchive/2006/gsp1006.pdf Data compiled by the current author from
Table 3 of a report of the US Bureau of Economic Analysis available at this web site.
Detailed data are available at http://www.bea.gov/bea/pn/GDPbyInd_VA_NAICS_19982005.xls)
xi
http://www.bea.gov/bea/pn/GDPbyInd_VA_NAICS_1998-2005.xls Table compiled by the current author from
Bureau of Economic Census Data for 2005 from the spreadsheet at this site.
xii
Table compiled by the current author from the US BEA data as in
http://www.bea.gov/bea/pn/GDPbyInd_VA_NAICS_1998-2005.xls
11
Some of the references were repeated from the earlier draft of this paper and the content of some of those
webpages has changed while some webpages were not active anymore; the author apologizes for that problem.
32
xiii
xiv
http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/india/india-railway-map.htm
Source: http://www.wellmaster.on.ca/cgi-bin/index.pl?RC
xv
Zwicky, F. (1960), A morphologist ponders the smog problem, Engineering and Science Journal, California
Institute of Technology 24: (2); 22-26;
Zwicky, F. (1962), Morphology of Propulsive Power, Society for Morphological Research, Pasadena, CA;
Zwicky, F. (1969), Discovery, Invention, Research: Through the Morphological Approach, Macmillan, Toronto;
Karamchetty, Som D., “The Application of Morphological Analysis to Discovering Mew Forms of Business,”
Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Change, Vol. 5, No. 3, 1996, Plenum Publishing Corporation.
33