Reform first

Sir — Minster of Railways Piyush Goyal’s concern and attention on poor maintenance of railway tracks is an observation from long back. Successive Governments had neglected this department and never spent money on the health of the tracks. A series of derailment episodes are a result of greedy politicians who didn’t want to allot any funds for regular maintenance, and diverted whatever budget was kept for the purpose of pilfering.

Any one would ask, why do we need bullet trains before replacing defective tracks. It will be an unimaginable scenario if a bullet train derails. The magnitude of casualty would increase manyfold. Moreover, bullet trains are a costly affair. Utilising that money in repairs is more logical way forward. The Minister has shown his resolve for now, let’s see what fruit it bears.