Contrary to what is widely believed, the supposedly “glorious” railway network that India inherited from the British in 1947 was in reality “highly complicated, irregular, ageing, outdated, decrepit and decaying.” It is true that for about seven decades following the takeover of India by the Crown in 1858, there had been major investments in the Indian railways, with the British government underwriting these investments, but the “so-called golden period” began to come to an end after the First World War.
In fact, with the Great Depression that followed, and the announcement of the GoI Act of 1935, British investments and guarantees into the railways had come to a virtual halt. This was followed by the Second World War when nearly 40 per cent of locomotives and rolling stock in India (obviously, the better ones) were put on ships and transported to the Middle East to support British war efforts. Many railway lines, stations and routes were shut down, many services were discontinued and much of the equipment was cannibalized for munitions. Railway factories were re-purposed to produce military equipment, leading to a huge shortage of locomotives, coaches and wagons, leaving India with old, obsolete, derelict and run-down locomotives and rolling stock.
In terms of organisation and management, there were, in fact, 52 different railway companies in India with varied ownership – mostly British, but some wealthy Indians and maharajas had also invested in them. They operated independently of, and in competition with, each other. The network that existed then was a patchwork of five different gauge types (broad, standard, metre, narrow and very narrow). Most of the track length was metre gauge, with broad gauge coming a close second.
Then came Partition, which changed everything in the subcontinent forever, including the railways. As per the Radcliffe Line, which divided India, 8,070 kilometres of line from the erstwhile Northern Frontier Railway went to the newly created state of (West) Pakistan, and almost all of the Assam–Bengal Railway went to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Partition cut through many railway lines, and as a result,t the entire northeastern part of India was cut off from the rest of the country as all lines leading there passed through the new state of East Pakistan. As the disturbances around Partition grew into full-scale communal rioting, all normal operations were disrupted as the railways focused on trying to move the tens of thousands of refugees between India and the two Pakistans in the midst of massacres and genocide.
However, for all the negative externalities, the railways had also played a very important role in the national movement – for Mahatma Gandhi had decided to understand the country better by travelling “third class” on the Indian rail. He was appalled at the conditions in which the vast majority of the Indian people had to travel and wrote a long essay on the subject, which, together with five other essays was published as a book in 1917. Some extracts from this compilation are given below:
In neglecting third-class passengers, [an] opportunity of giving a splendid education to millions in orderliness, sanitation, decent composite life and cultivation of simple and clean tastes is being lost. Instead of receiving an object lesson in these matters, third-class passengers have their sense of decency and cleanliness blunted during their travelling experience … Refreshments sold to the passengers were dirty-looking, handed by dirtier hands, coming out of filthy receptacles and weighed in equally unattractive scales. These were previously sampled by millions of flies. I asked some of the passengers who went in for these dainties to give their opinion. Many of them used choice expressions as to the quality but were satisfied to state that they were helpless in the matter; they had to take things as they came.
This was how he wanted to address the issue:
Among the many suggestions that can be made for dealing with the evil here described, I would respectfully include this: let the people in high places, the Viceroy, the Commander-in-Chief, the Rajas, Maharajas, the Imperial Councillors and others, who generally travel in superior classes, without previous warning, go through the experiences now and then of third-class travelling. We would then soon see a remarkable change inthe conditions of third-class travelling and the uncomplaining millions will get some return for the fares they pay under the expectation of being carried from place to place with ordinary creature comforts.6
Shastri was no stranger to third-class travel. In fact, more than him, his mother and his wife had also been through these privations. No wonder then that in all his budget speeches as the railway minister, he made a special reference to his concerns for the “vast majority of railway users who travelled third class”. Although after the general elections, he was expected to rejoin the UP cabinet as the home minister, Nehru prevailed upon Pant to release Shastri for a new role at the national level. As mentioned earlier, he had won the Vidhan Sabha elections in UP.
Placed fifth in the hierarchy of the Union cabinet, Shastri was given charge of the railways and ministry of transport, which then included shipping, ports, national highways and civil aviation. However, for all practical purposes, he was called the railway minister: trains were indeed the lifeline of the country for both goods and passengers, and the railways were the single-largest civilian employer in 1947 as it is today. Politically, too, in terms of new stations and infrastructure, contracts, outreach, manpower, budget, public expectations and complaints, the railway minister was the person whom the parliamentarian and legislator wanted to approach – for new trains, upgrades of railway stations, manned railway crossings and overbridges over the more important ones, and last, but not least, employment with the railways or livelihood opportunities like a vending stall at the station.
Shastri’s first rail budget speech was delivered within ten days of becoming the railway minister on 13 May 1952. He made improvements in third-class passenger amenities and the working and living conditions of railwaymen were his top priority. Echoing the sentiments of the Mahatma, he said, “In the old Company days, passenger amenities, particularly in the lower classes, were neglected and housing of labour attracted very little attention and was generally considered infructuous expenditure. I wish to assure this House that the Railway Board is only too conscious of its responsibilities in this matter.” He briefed Parliament about the need to weld together the numerous railway systems into one coordinated railway system, divided into an adequate number of major zonal administrative units based on considerations of administrative and operational efficiency. The six new administrative zones were northern, northeastern, eastern, southern, western and central. He went on to add:
As the largest employer of labour in this country, it has been the constant endeavour of the Railway Ministry to create conditions of work commensurate with the status of labour in the economic and social life of our welfare state. The House will undoubtedly appreciate that the fulfilment of this new policy throughout the railway undertaking is a formidable task, and has, of necessity, to be phased over a period of years.
The next budget, that of 1953–54, bore his stamp in its entirety: this was the first budget speech of which the Hindi text was shared with the members simultaneously. He said, “Without departing from the practice of delivering this speech in English, I have taken the liberty of supplying a text of it in Hindi to Hon’ble members along with other papers.” The pith and substance of his address was devoted to improving the conditions of third-class travel.
I made a reference during the budget debates last year to the discomforts of third-class passengers and the conditions at small stations lacking even in the minimum of facilities. I am glad to say that in the matter of providing amenities, a special drive has been instituted this year, and, perhaps, for the first time no part of the budgeted amount under this head will lapse. Certain minimum amenities like waiting halls, benches, drinking water supply, improved platform surfacing, better booking arrangements, etc. will be gradually provided at all stations irrespective of their size and status. At the more important stations, improved lighting arrangements, coverings over passenger platforms and improved arrangements for dealing with luggage etc. are proposed to be provided. There are other directions also in which either action has been initiated this year, or the existing drive has been intensified to give more comforts to third-class passengers. Railways have again been reminded that special steps should be taken to ensure supplies of pure drinking water to passengers. Arrangements have been made to have meals served to third-class passengers in their compartments from dining cars. The facilities for advance booking of third-class passengers on important mail and express trains and reservation of third-class seats in special carriages for long-distance travel has also been further extended in the current year.
With regard to the demand for the abolition of classes, he did not want to be rushed into a decision. He said:
In the course of the debate on the Railway Budget last year, Hon’ble members of this and the other House made an impassioned plea that the Railways should give a lead in the matter of elimination of class distinctions by abolishing different passenger classes. I said in reply that, while this ideal was worth pursuing, the abolition of all classes in railway travel in one stride was not a practicable proposition. I, however, felt that there was hardly any need for first-class accommodation on Indian Railways, and I gave an assurance that the question of the abolition of first class would be examined at the earliest opportunity. First-class accommodation has been withdrawn with effect from 1st October 1952 from all branch lines, excepting those which form links between two important main lines, and also, from the less important trains on the main lines. It has also been decided that first-class accommodation should be withdrawn from all trains with effect from 1st April 1953, except from some of the mail and express trains. I hope it will be possible to withdraw first-class accommodation completely by October next. It has been decided that on minor branch lines, there should be two classes only, i.e., third class and either second or inter, as traffic warrants, unless it is considered that third-class accommodation is enough. The process might be considered slow but it is better to proceed rather cautiously. I am clear in my mind that we should have a minimum number of classes. The second step should be to keep only two classes – Upper and Lower – besides the air-conditioned accommodation. I do not, however, want to take any hasty steps as I do feel that any further reduction in the number of classes in railway trains must await a study of the public reaction to and financial implications of the abolition of the first class.
Excerpted with permission from The Great Conciliator: Lal Bahadur Shastri and the Transformation of India, Sanjeev Chopra, Bloomsbury India.
