Chinese Railways

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Tracks cascading down from Beijing Railway Station

We in India are far too late in modernizing the railways and introducing high speed trains and. Politics and corruption has held us back and has pushed us back along with backward economies which have railways. Whether European, American, Japanese, Koreans or Chinese railways, we are far behind them and it will take decades to even come anywhere near them. One would like to add that even Malaysia has stolen a march over us.

Another view of  Beijing Railway Station

 For the first time in decades PM Modi, in active collaboration with a brilliant Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, is trying to lift the Railways from the morass it has got bogged down in. And yet there is no shortage of critics. For years ministers of railways not only used the ministry as a political tool and garner votes. Budget after budget it was populism that ruled with no steps for lifting up this massive asset of the country.

Nose like that of a aircraft

If one looks at the inese Railways one would realize what the Chinese have achieved in thirty years. I had occasion to travel in Chinese Railways in 1982, though for short distances, they were no better than our railways. The coaches used to be imported from the communist-ruled East Germany. Nonetheless, services for

Cabins too like those in aircraft

the passengers were of a much higher order. I had occasion to seeeven the Shanghai Railway Station. It was not even like our VT but there was a huge lounge with sofa sets and their crocheted toppings. Wall to wall Chinese paintings dominated the hall. No

Seats exuding luxury

clutter of baggage as baggage had to be booked in what we call brake vans.

The change that we see in pictures today is so remarkable. Not only are the Chinese gloating over a futuristic railways that they have, they have become consultants for others, including us. I am putting up a few photographs of Chinese railways for friends to see. All of these have been taken from the internet. Take a look.  

*As indicated in the text all photos are from internet

Shape of things to come - in Indian Railways?

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Tracks fanning out of Beijing Railway Station

A recent news item indicated that the Chinese are coming to take a look at the Indian Railways and suggest ways and means to improve it in most of its aspects. A week or two earlier a 22-member delegation headed by the Deputy Administrator of the National Railway Administration Zheng Jian held talks with the top brass of the Central Railways at Mumbai

Nose like that of an aircraft

While there are numerous other countries which have developed and modernised their respective railway systems – France and Japan to name only two – perhaps pitching on China would be the right thing to do. Thirty years ago the Chinese Railways system was no better than ours as it is today. I had had occasion to

Sleeperette  seats

see it myself in 1982. But today they have a whole network of swanky bullet trains running at 300 kms per hour. They have gone through the whole gamut of processes for lifting up standards and modernisation of the System and the work is still on. The fast paced development was aided by accumulation of huge amounts of forex reserves and an authoritarian regime. Nonetheless, in our case, too, a beginning has

Stewardesses

to be made - sooner the better. Our Railways have been milked by the politicians in our self-destructive, chaotic democracy for so long that it had actually been brought down to the edge of a precipice.

The report hoped that a MoU might be signed in this regard when the Chinese President comes to India on a visit in September next.  The photographs sent to me by a friend are also posted. One wonders whether one would be journeying on such a train in this country any time soon. Not in my lifetime anyway!

Will it be like what we see here?