Changing Tracks Reinviting The Spirit Of Indian Railways

the world s second largest railway network under a single management was nearly bankrupt. Over the next eight years, however, there was a dramatic improvement in its performance. From a cash surplus before dividend of Rs 1,071 crores in 2000, it achieved an estimated Rs 25,000 crores (or around Rs 13,000 crores after accounting for all expenditures, receipts and depreciation) in 2008. Alongside came a dynamic and differential tariff policy, and technical changes that led to an enhanced carrying capacity. How all this was accomplished is the focus of this riveting study of change and innovation in the Indian Railways.

V. Nilakant is on the faculty of the Department of Management at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. He studied at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.