It might do Mr Janardhan some good if he were to delve a little more deeply- The Rlwys were in upswing since 2002 when economy entered higher growth due to NDA govt's reform policies, long before this Lalu creature came on the scene. In fact, much the glory should go to Chairman of Rlwys Board in the '80s, M S Gujral's Strategy For Rlwys: Increase freight of each existing wagon by 8 tons; Longer extended runs by freight trains without changing locomotives; Reduce frequency of checking wagons and tracks during a journey - results: turnaround time of goods trains reduced from 7 to 5 days leading to 700 trains/day against 500/day prevously. The NDA concluded that Rlwys would need at minimum Rs 300,000 cr by 2015 just for modernization and upgradation. Two key decisons of Vajpayee govt played a mjor role in Rlwys improvemnt: 1. Creation of a non-lapseable Rs 17,000 cr special Rlwys Safety Fund by one-time Central grant of Rs 12,000 cr plus a safety cess on passenger tickets to mop up another Rs 5,000 cr. 2. In 2003 provided extra budgetary support of Rs 15,000 cr for Rail Vikas Nigam to strengthen Golden Quadrilateral. By the time that Lalu creature crept into Rail Bhavan, the economy was booming and so was the Rlwys - Lalu had absolutely nothing to do with Rlwys increased performance - it's NDA's plicies which got it there - not that criminal Lalu.
