express trains in India has remained an abysmal 45 to 50 km per hour for the last thirty years !
This is despite the fact that there has been so much ado over 'modernisation', 'rail track upgradation', 'safety enhancement', etc. and tremendous amounts of money has been invested from the national budget under different railway ministers of the UPA/NDA - each swearing everytime to bring in a 'fresh breath of air' to the carrier.
A journey by express train from say, Trivandrum to Lucknow took 56 hours then; and it takes 56 hours or more now !
Meanwhile the average speed of Chinese long distance trains more than doubled from an already high 65 km per hour in 1984 to roughly 140 kmph now ! As a result, common Chinese have been increasingly turning to the efficiently run railways for long distance travel.
Coupled with this fact, the Chinese govt. moved with very good foresight and acquired strategically vital control over very large petroleum reserves in different areas of the globe such as the former Soviet republics of Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgistan besides a number of oil-rich African countries such as Angola, Nigeria, Congo, etc. and in the South American oil giant Venezuela. This far reaching move has fetched them handsome returns in the form of assured and plentiful supply of crude oil for decades at stable and competitive prices (the Chinese crude import basket today costs only about 78 USD per barrel whereas the Indian one costs 115 USD!).
What ever may be the financial implications, Govt must close down Air India. Poor Tax payers money must not be utilized to give promotions and give career guarantee to the arrogant employees of a dying industry
