Discuss the various challenges faced by Indian Railways. To what extent, in your opinion, can privatization help in addressing these challenges?

When budgeting according to UNEP considers the contribution of environmental elements and the losses sustained by it for growth of GDP. Challenges faced by Railway: 1) High freight cost due to cross-subsidization eg freight reduced from 862 to 272 in Railway 2) Poor multi-modal price transportation eg Road: Rail: Waterways → 60:30:10, Ideal is → 25:45:30 3) Split personality between profitability and welfare 4) High infrastructure needs → 50,000 or till 2030 (Niti Aayog) 5) Ineffective PPP model → Black Debray Committee Can Privatization Help? Yes 1) Corporatization for efficiency eg Rakesh Mohan committee 2) Focusing on making railways profitable eg Black Debray committee - derail focus on non-core function 3) New talent and lesser corruption No 1) Dilution of welfare aspect 2) Health-thrilling private partners 3) Possibility of away capitalism 4) Safety duties - Subrather committee Railway needs to be rejuvenated to strive a balance between privatization and government welfarism. It requires leveraging of PPP.

— Aditya Talwar · AIR 270