The Railways is heading for Rs 8,000-crore deficit this year even asdemand pressures are mounting. Do you think there is a case for putting anend to subsidisation of passenger fares by freight? If yes, is itpossible?
Lower class fares have not kept pace with inflation because of the socialconcern for the less well-off. The upper class fares, on the other hand,have been raised but cannot be raised further since at that level theRailways has to compete with airlines. Further, subsidisation of thepassenger travel is also not possible since if freight rates are raisedfurther, the railways will lose cargo. Within the freight traffic, farestructure for various commodities has to be taken care of. Therefore, thereis a need for rationalisation of the fare structure. One cannot expect ahealthy railway system unless this issue is addressed.

How can the railway network be made more efficient?
Railway is the most efficient form of transport. The country is lucky tohave such a wide network which considering the scale of its operations, isbeing run relatively efficiently. Nevertheless, the railway share inpassenger and freight traffic is going down. But, it is not that trains arerunning empty. They are overloaded because of excess demand. The issue,therefore, is how the railway system can be expanded.

What should be the focus area for revenue generation?
Under pressure from bulk commodities, the Railways has lost high-valuetraffic. Modernisation of the freight movement through a much more reliablelogistic chain has to be in place. Also, the rolling stock has not kept pacewith the needs. For instance, special wagons for transporting bulk cementcan be used which can cut down on the cost of bagging and debagging. Butthis requires lot of investment.Technology changes, especially for containerisation, are needed. Though theContainer Corporation of India (Concor) is doing good work, there is a hugescope for enlarging its activities.

Will privatisation of railway services be of help?
Private investment comes about only if an activity is remunerative enoughand for this, it has to generate revenue. At the same time, costs have to bepruned. The fact is that it is the government which has invested money ininfrastructure world over. But in our country, there is shortage ofgovernment funds.

As roads improve further, there will be greater competition for therailways. For instance, in Britain and the United States, the railways gotinto trouble as soon as highways improved.

Certain projects in the road sector have run into problems with usersrefusing to pay toll. Do you think, in the light of this, private sectorparticipation may slow down?
The problem can be tackled through better communication. Users need torealise that if they want a special service, they will have to pay extra.Moreover, 95 per cent of the roads are not tolled. If users are not willingto be tolled then let them travel on crowded roads.

Road users argue that they pay road tax and fuel cess. Money from thesehas not been utilised properly. So, why levy tolls?
Taxes as a proportion of national income have been going down while thepopulation has been increasing. About 5 lakh cars are sold annually nowwhile it was only 30,000 cars in the early 80s. Therefore, the pressure onroads has increased. The citizens cannot argue that nothing has happened.

How viable is the National Highway Development Programme and will it leadto neglect of other roads?
Given the resource constrain, we have to be careful so that we do not makebig roads for the heck of it. Nevertheless, we have to provide adequatequality road where ever there are quality volumes.

There has been a talk of integrated transport but nothing much hashappened. In fact, when it comes to investment it is road versus therailways. How can this be corrected?
Competition is good. But, to the extent public resources are invested, therehas to be an integrated transport policy so that there is no doubling ofinvestment. The key issue here is where is the investment going. The littleresources which are available should be utilised judiciously.