essay on models of India station train
Answers
On the eve of India’s First Five Year Plan, Indian railways were in a state of serious disrepair. This may be seen from the fact that 1640 locomotives, 5120 coaches, and 25,000 wagons were due for replacement. There were also large arrears of renewals of track while speed restrictions were in force over large parts.
The main task of the First Plan, therefore, was “the rehabilitation of the railways which had been subjected to severe strain on account of the war and the Partition.” In order to fulfill this and other tasks, the railways spent about Rs. 423 crores during the plan of which rolling stock alone accounted for Rs. 242 crores.
While meeting the large requirements of repair and renewals with imported equipment, steps were also taken to make the railways self-sufficient in respect of even larger requirements during the subsequent plans. Towards this end, a locomotive factory at Chittaranjan and a coach-building factory at Madras were set up in the public sector.
Along with the programme of rehabilitation for which major portion of allotment was utilised, a number of works including doubling of track, yard modeling’s, new crossing stations, additional loops, improved signalling devices and increased repair facilities were also undertaken to cater to increased traffic demands.
The main objectives of the Railway’s Second Plan, during which an expenditure of Rs. 1043.69 crores, was made, were:
(1) To continue the rehabilitation of track, bridges, and rolling stock;
(2) To create adequate capacity to suit the planned requirements of heavy industries like coal, steel, cement, and other commodities.
The three steel plants set up and those whose capacity had been expanded, had to be regularly supplied with their raw material requirements, including coal, all by rail route. For this purpose, it was necessary to create large additional capacity in the eastern region.
Accordingly, all the loops on the trunk route were brought up to the standard length and heavier freight trains hauled by double-headed diesel or electric locomotives were introduced. In addition to about 1512 kms of doublings, about 1311 kms of new lines, mainly confined to the requirements of coal and steel, were also completed and opened during the plan.
Railway’s Third Plan was framed to meet an estimated freight traffic of 245 million tons and 15% increase in passenger traffic over the level of the Second Plan. Even though initially allotted 1325 crores which was later raised, actual expenditure during the plan came to Rs. 1685.8 crores.
The increase was largely due to rise in prices of materials of construction, government levies, increase in the cost of labour etc., and the additional construction undertaken in the Assam region to meet strategic needs.
Apart from opening 1801 kms of new lines and doubling of 3228 kms of the track, expansion of yards, introduction of modern signalling techniques, all of which went into creating additional capacity, the main task of the railways during the Third Plan was the modernisation of traction, including a switchover from steam to diesel and electric traction.
This was necessary in view of the rapid industrialisation of the country with higher production targets in basic industries.
From a modest beginning made in the Second Plan, when only 5.3% of traffic was carried on diesel and 3.6% on electric traction, modernisation made rapid strides so that by the end of 1965-66, 20.6% of the traffic was carried on diesel and 12.4% on electric traction.
And with a view to providing for even larger requirement of diesel and electric traction in the future, a diesel locomotive factory was set up at Varanasi, while Chittaranjan works were equipped for the manufacture of electric locomotives also.
Taking the three plans as a whole, railways made significant progress in several directions. The capital at large increased more than three times from Rs. 832.2 crores to Rs. 2680.3 crores; freight traffic rose by more than 2 times from 93 million tons to 204 million tons and passengers originating increased by 60% from Rs. 1307.8 million to 2104 million.
Gross traffic receipts went up from Rs. 263 crores to Rs. 733.6 crores —an increase of 179%.
Significantly, the route kilometers increased by a bare 6% from 54932 in 1950-51 to 58399 in 1965- 66 and this despite investment of over Rs. 3000 crores. Of course, it can be argued that most of the required railway network had already been laid by the time the British left and that, therefore, the problem was one of carrying more of passengers and goods over the same route net work rather than expanding the mileage.
There is certainly force in the argument but it may be pointed out that large areas of the country in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh were still without the necessary railway facilities. Also, the railways were still characterised by a variety of gauges which enormously added to the cost of railway transport.