Tracking priorities

Over the last couple of years, the Indian Railways have emerged as the poster boy of public sector management capabilities, displaying a sensational financial turn-around. Mr Lalu Prasad, minister of railways, has been feted as the principal architect of this, with the same fervour with which he was criticised for the state of affairs in Bihar. He is, of course, fully entitled to all the attention and praise that is being lavished on him. However, he must not for a moment imagine that the job of revitalising the railways is even close to being finished. In fact, as a successful manager, he would do well to look at his achievements to date as providing a platform to address some of the more deep-rooted problems that plague the system and have an uncomfortable tendency to manifest themselves every now and then.

For a start, it must not be forgotten that the huge buoyancy in revenue that has been seen during Mr Prasad's tenure has a lot to do with the sharp acceleration in economic growth, particularly in the industrial sector, over the last three years. Substantial contributions to this growth have come from relatively material-intensive industries, like steel, cement and chemicals. Demand for transportation services has risen apace. It is to the railways' credit that they were able to accommodate this increase and, in the process, reverse the trend towards road transport that had been manifest for quite some time. However, this also leaves the finances of the system vulnerable to downturn in the business cycle. The current level of financial comfort must be used to make significant investments in both capacity and technology across the entire range of activities, which will help sustain the system's competitive advantage over the long haul. As things stand, even as traffic has grown, the shortcomings in service quality, the state of railway amenities and the archaic technological conditions in which the system operates are painfully obvious. Mr Prasad may have overcome all these obstacles to perform but he must think of leaving a legacy in the form of a system that is capable of performing at this level regardless of the identity or political affiliation of the person on top.

Besides investment and the challenges of finding public and private resources to finance it, the twin issues of safety and security have been brought sharply into focus during Mr Prasad's tenure. Investment will play a part in effective solutions, of course, but beyond resources, there are fundamental changes required in the way in which the organisation runs. Putting in place systems that not only clearly define objectives and tasks but, most importantly, hold individuals fully accountable for delivery, is an ongoing challenge for any organisation; for one like the railways, it has to be given top priority. Further, the security issue involves not only enhancing the capabilities of railway staff; dealing with it effectively requires co-ordination with local administrations across the country for both prevention and recovery.

In short, as welcome as an announcement about further improvements in railway finances will be, Mr Prasad cannot confine himself to this alone in his budget speech. He must genuinely shift his horizons from the short-term to the long-term, from wanting to be seen as just a very good railway minister to being the architect of an efficient provider of high-quality services that endures long beyond his tenure.