During the days of the British Raj, many Britishers used to arrive in Mumbai by steamer and then travel to Delhi on classic trains such as Frontier Mail and the Punjab Mail which were special trains and far more luxurious than the average Indian train.
The Rajdhani Express reeks of the same colonial mindset. There is enough to suggest that it was created with the same colonial intent: to serve the ruling classes in the states and to make it easier for them to travel to Delhi.
While the recently introduced Duronto Express trains and Sampark Kranti Express trains have improved connectivity between all major stations to some extent, all the Rajdhani Express trains run to/from Delhi (hence the name). So you have fast trains between Delhi and Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata, Delhi and Secunderabad, Delhi and Chennai – but we only have snail slow services between other major pairs of stations like Bangalore – Mumbai, Kolkata – Chennai, Bangalore – Kolkata, Hyderabad – Kolkata, Mumbai – Kolkata and so on.
This asymmetry should be unacceptable in a democratic country where taxpayers are spread nationwide and cities like Mumbai and Bangalore which contribute a disproportionate amount to the national exchequer, get next to nothing in return, in terms of relatively high speed rail connectivity with cities other than Delhi. It is time to address this wrong. It is time to address the serious asymmetry in India’s railway network where all major rail services generally lead to Delhi.
In fact, not only do we need fast trains between all pairs of tier-1 and tier-2 cities, we also need tier-3 towns and cities to be a part of routes of trains with speeds exceeding 80 or 90 kmph. Only then can one justify the tax collection which happens from all states, cities, towns and villages although in varying extents.
