Quick Edit | It takes a train to cry

With the usual caveats about the reliability of information from Wikipedia, India has seen more rail accidents in 2010 than it has in the past 15 years (at least). It is easy to blame this on a minister whose heart is clearly elsewhere, but that may only serve to mask the real issues. It might be interesting to see the kind of investments Indian Railways has made in modernizing and upgrading its equipment and systems, especially those designed to prevent accidents. It might also be interesting to see whether an over-reliance and over-emphasis on the freight side of the business has meant the loss of focus on the passenger side of it. Or maybe the poor safety record of Indian Railways reflects the apathy towards those travelling by train. If that’s indeed the case, it would certainly be the most undesirable fallout of the aviation boom that has seen a huge increase in the number of flyers.