Route km is simply the distance between two points, say, Mumbai and Delhi. If I say the distance between Mumbai and Delhi by train is 1,384 km, that’s a measure of route km. But in addition, there is the concept of running track km. If there is a double track between Mumbai and Delhi, to compute running track km, I will double 1,384 km to 2,768 km. To cause further confusion, there is also the concept of total track km. That’s obtained by adding sidings and tracks in yards to running track km. To give some rough idea of the difference, IR’s total track km is around 115,000, but route km is around 67,000. That 500 route km figure for 2015-16 is still a target, not an achieved number. However, from that outcome budget, we also have figures for new lines actually constructed, at least till January 2016. Those 17 new lines add up to 619 km. There has been some disbelief about these numbers: 619 km till January 2016, beginning April 2016, and 2,828 km in 2015-16? How can that be right? Something doesn’t sound right. I have no idea why IR can’t be more transparent and categorical about definitions. This reticence to come clean fuels speculation about shadiness.
The distance 2,828 km is an apple and 619 km is an orange. When one builds a new line, that’s typically single track; 619 km, is that, completely new route km. However, even if an existing line exists, there may be doubling. Meter gauge may be converted to broad gauge. The distance 2,828 km includes this and is more like broad gauge running track km. That’s my guess and if IR had clearly stated the definitions, no one would have had to guess. In 2015-16, till January 2016, there had been 245 km of gauge conversion and 725 km of doubling or multiple lines. With these two categories added, till January 2016, we have 1,589 km of broad gauge running track km. Note that the Railway Board gives all GMs targets for new lines. The May 29, 2015 targets had 304 km for February and 1089 km for March. Added to 619 km, this means 2,012 km. There’s yet another reason for apples versus oranges. Note the expression: “broad gauge lines commissioned”. A line being constructed doesn’t mean it is open to traffic. There are Railways (Opening for Public Carriage of Passengers) Rules. Stated simply, after physical construction, there must be a clearance from the Union government that rules have been complied with. After this, there must be a clearance from the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS). Paragraph 18 of the 2016-17 Railway Budget speech had the following sentence: “This year we changed the metric from completion to commissioning. ‘Completion’ can be a misleading term, a paper reality. Nothing has started functioning until it has been commissioned.” The Railway Board’s targets to GMs are also for commissioning.
Commissioning is indeed a better metric and 2,828 km refers to commissioning. But there’s no obvious correspondence between completion and commissioning. For instance, there may be a bunching together of completed projects that are suddenly cleared. It would have been a good idea to give a break-up of that 2,828 km. This is all the more important because in the project-wise disaggregation of the 619-km figure, there is something like the Mawai-Kharagpur section, part of the 540-km Lalitpur-Satna-Rewa-Singruli line, which has taken many years (original approval came in 1998). Check the IR Annual Report and Accounts for 2011-12. West Central Railway reported this 22-km Mawai-Kharagpur stretch as having been constructed in 2011-12. Check the January-March 2015 report of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on central sector projects. For Mawai-Kharagpur, we are told, “All works completed and CRS inspection date awaited.” This was one instance and there are others of the same variety. Surely, a segment is not being constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed several times over. That’s the reason I said IR needs to be much more transparent, accountable and consistent. Otherwise, even if 2,828 km is possible, there is an impression of it not being plausible and being pliable.