One of the best means of transportation for the voyagers who love to be enthralled by the scenic beauty around in the lap of spacious coziness.
India stands out to be the second largest country in the largest number of passengers per kilometer segment.
The leader amongst all the countries is China. India has too many achievements yet it is unable to showcase the maintenance of it's rail structure.
Do you know? There are four sites of Indian Railway which are promulgated as the World Heritage Sites under the aegis of UNESCO.
Those are namely, "Neelgiri-Mountain railways", "Kalka-Shimla Railways", "Darjeeling", and "Mumbai CST Building".
Now, still we have such silly railway system that we can not uphold the dignity of these world class sites. Don't you think so? Now, honestly How many of us even want to travel in 3rd Class AC? I guess, you must be frowning now imagining the filth in the coaches . Then, How about 2nd Class AC? I remember those days when I used to touch the windows and doors repeatedly, my mother used to push me to wash hands every now and then. That is the neatness maintained in our posh coaches.
We have been dreaming of bullet trains in the years to come, but when our fastest train, running at the speed of 150 Kmph, can't match up the standards of a neat and on time train, Don't you think that dream is in vague? Even the slowest train in China, running between Zibo and Tai'an in Shangdon, gives Indian Railways an inferiority complex. The train covers 184 Km in 6 hours with 23 stops, while the fair of the train is less than 2$, which has not been raised since the very beginning. To add to your information, this train is driven by a locomotive engine and traverses the mountainous areas. The people traveling in the train are satisfied with the facilities provided by the railways at such low costs.
On the contrary, the Indian Railways are increasing the rail fares and shrinking the luxury space of the coaches, choking the passengers till the toilet gates. Indian Railways has finally realized that plethora of people are unhappy with the congested and un-regularized elements of the railway system. Therefore, a prize of Rs 10 Lakh, Rs 5 Lakhs and Rs 3 Lakhs has been announced for the first, second and third best idea winner respectively. All you have to do is to come up with an innovative idea, beguiling business plan, and of course the blueprints of raising money in order to improve our railway structure.
Let's see if this strategy turns out to be a private getaway for the railway system or it really gets transformed with the sheen of the beautiful idea. But as far as my experience of living in India speaks, even the ideas will fall short in-front of the excuses of the railway administration.