India's - 60,000 kilometre Lifeline

From the plains of the Punjab to the jungles of Kerala, from the deserts of Rajasthan to the Himalayas, from Calcutta to Bombay, the world's largest democracy literally moves on its rails

- Arthur Zich

By almost any measure, it is a staggering operation. With 60,000 track and ₹4,320 crores in capital assets, the Indian railway system is the largest under one management in the free world. It moves more people than any other transport system anywhere. And with 1.7 million workers, it is the biggest single employer in India. Each day, its 11,000 trains haul some 7,00,000 tons of freight. "Stop the trains for 20 days and you've completely disrupted the Indian economy," says K. S. Rajan, the chairman of India's railway board.

With an average passenger fare of 3.5 paisa per kilometre, it is also the world's cheapest transportation system. Indians make the most of it every 12 years. Near Allahabad, for example, the Kumbh mela festival draws some five million Hindu pilgrims. It is, by the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest gathering of humans anywhere. In 1977, 950 trains got them there.

But it doesn't take festivals to bring out the crowds. The rails carry an astonishing nine million people every day of the year. Unfortunately, not all of them pay. Some four million cases of ticketless travellers clog the courts each year, and no one knows how many others go undetected.

Other forms of crime are more serious on train murder, robbery and dacoity. Armed robbery involving physical injury have risen alarmingly in all 22 states. Theft of pig iron from wagons is so common that some illicit foundries depend on it as a main source. Railway properties such as fans, lights, window frames and whole lengths of track is spirited away. In the past five years, for example, close to 7,000 kilometres of copper cable have disappeared.

SEASONAL DISASTERS