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Railways turnaround exemplary & sustainable We have posted a Rs 25,000-crore profit this year. This is better than the net profit of most of the Fortune 500 companies. Had we listed ourselves, we would have been on the Top 10 list. The operating ratio at 76.3 is one of the best in the world. All these have been achieved without following the conventional approach. Our commonsensical and counterintuitive approach has been the foremost reason behind the turnaround. Nano would make cars affordable for two-wheeler owners in India. Similarly, Garib Rath will make air-conditioned travel affordable for lower middle class and poor section of our society, who usually travel by sleeper class due to cost constraints. This time, we have announced 10 more Garib Raths. Our out-of-box thinking, high-volume game, and boldness in approach have fuelled the turnaround. And, to make this turnaround sustainable, we have multiplied our investment for future by about 4 times, which is exemplary by any given standards, in the last four years. The railways would invest Rs 25,000 crore over the next five years in capacity augmentation, technology urgrade, doubling of tracks and promotion of world-class services to our customers. We have set up a strategic business analyst and innovation group comprising railway experts for creative and strategic thinking in railways on a long-term basis. We would come with a 'Vision Document 2025' for the railways and vision 2012 on IT exclusively over the next few months. The annual plan for the current year is Rs 35,000 crore, which is the biggest till date, and 80% funding of the plan would be done through net budgetary resources and internal generation. The focus over the last three years is not on yield per passenger or yield per train kilometre, rather the yield per train kilometre is the chief concern. We have made money not by increasing tariff, but by increasing length, payload, seating capacity and occupancy levels. At a macro level, the focus is not on denominator but on the numerator. In other words, we have taken steps to revive and regenerate the competitiveness of railways in the market place. Setting up of a tariff regulator, down-sizing or restructuring cannot sort out the problems of competitiveness of railways in the market place. The battle of the market has to be fought and won in the market place and therefore railway's pricing strategy factor is not totally commercial but customer-centric and market-driven. We have a dynamic pricing and commercial policy across routes, regions and periods. The investment strategy focus is on low cost, short gestation, rapid pay-back and high return projects for better operating efficiency, more effective utilisation of rolling stock and removal of capacity bottlenecks on the high-density networks (HDN). Over the medium and long term, the priority areas are throughput enhancement works on the HDN, modernisation and technological upgrade of rolling stock and signalling and telecommunication, wider application of information technology for operational improvements and revenue enhancement and better customer service. We have shown that social obligation of the public utility can be married with a commercial enterprise. It has been possible for us to become profitable and at the same time win hearts of teeming millions of the country. This happens only when we think creative and act swiftly with the time. What the country has seen so far is not even the tip of the iceberg. The Railways have huge potential and coming time would see this magic unfold with all its beauty and charm. Foundation of a mega enterprise has been laid and the identity of the railways as an institution has grown stronger with the morale and pride of employees at an all-time high.