Railways mulls major rehaul after Budget

In a significant move, the government is considering a major overhaul of Railways after the Budget in order to revive cash-strapped national transporter.Sources said that "business-as-usual" would not help to revamp the state-run transporter as an engine of economic growth and there is need to inject critical reforms."A revival plan would be worked out after the Budget," said a top official, adding that revamp of railways is critical to accelerating the country's economic growth.

He looks at the possibility of a major bureaucratic reshuffle to bring efficient and honest officials on board in finalizing the revival plan. Several panels in the past had suggested restructuring of the railways to get the mammoth organization in tune with changing reality, but successive governments failed to muster courage to push reforms, seen as politically unpopular.Even the Kakodkar committee on railway safety, whose report new railway minister Sadananda Gowda has asked to re-examine, had found that the present organisational set-up on departmental lines is very conservative and lacks dynamism needed in an like the Indian Railways.