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Showing posts with the label Indian Railways

Decision Making as Output and Bounded Rationality

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  The classical economics theories proceed on the assumption of rational agents. Rationality implies the economic agents undertake actions or exercise choices based on the cost-benefit analysis they undertake. The assumption further posits that there exists no information asymmetry and thus the agent is aware of all the costs and benefits associated with the choice he or she has exercised. The behavioral school contested the decision stating the decisions in practice are often irrational. Implied there is a continuous departure from rationality. Rationality in the views of the behavioral school is more an exception to the norm rather a rule. The past posts have discussed the limitations of this view by the behavioral school. Economics has often posited rationality in the context in which the choices are exercised rather than theoretical abstract view of rational action. Rational action in theory seems to be grounded in zero restraint situation yet in practice, there are numerous restra
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Naming Railway Stations

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  There is invariably a controversy when something is named. This something could be an airport, a port, a railway station, a bus stand, a street, a road, a dam, an educational institute, a waterway, a sanctuary or a zoo, an university or maybe countless other things. These things invariably get named after prominent personalities or institutions. The criteria is usually someone big associated with the ruling party of the day. There was no surprise when anything and everything was named or renamed after the Nehru-Gandhi family during the Congress rule. The Connaught Place was named Rajiv Chowk, there was the Hyderabad airport which was named after Rajiv Gandhi, there was a sea link between Bandra and Worli in Mumbai that was named after Rajiv Gandhi. Similarly, there did arise issues when the current government named Mughalsarai station as Deen Dayal Nagar. It is not the railway stations were not named before. Mumbai VT was renamed as Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus whereas the new
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Converting Passenger Trains to Express Trains: Some Thoughts

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  It might sound a cliché but suffice to say that railways are the lifeline of Indian economy and society would be an understatement in many ways. Almost every Indian town or taluka place have a railway station within 20-30 kms from their place. The only exceptions perhaps would be those in the hills in the Himalayas or the North East and the islands. Railway transport has been critical in bringing together people at multiple levels. Distances have reduced psychologically. It is said in the days of Madras Presidency, the introduction of railways made relationships expand to distant regions. Girls would be given in marriage to grooms in nearby villages, the reason being easy to stay connected. Once the railways came around, it was easy to stay connected even to distant places (relatively speaking from those times) as the girl’s family could visit her frequently and vice versa.   Railways in India essentially not only carried freight and military but also was means to transport passe
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Economics Primer in Real Life- Transportation Infrastructure

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In any discussion on economic growth and development, the role of transportation has a prime position. Transport economics thus would deal with the semantics of transport infrastructure and mechanisms that propel economic growth in any country. Often when economy is slowing down, the focus shifts to the transportation infrastructure. There is increased emphasis on transportation infrastructure as things gather pace. There will increased movement in construction of new roads, railway lines, airports, shipping lanes, waterways among other things. It is not just the emphasis on the national highways but increased allocation and work happens on the feeder roads and rural roads also. It is not just about new railway lines but enhancement of existing railway infrastructure also. It is not about more air traffic but increased connectivity to more cities and tourist destinations. N the context, it would be pertinent to examine a couple of instances wherein one finds an economics dimension appl
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