Word: training
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There's a moment late in the afternoon on many long Indian train journeys when the world seems to slow down and rest for a while. As the fading light filters through half-closed shutters and the swaying of the carriages nudges passengers into an irresistible slumber, air-conditioner mechanic T.J. Mathai takes a break from checking that his machinery is working properly and that the vents are open just so. During a recent three-day trip from New Delhi, in India's north, to Kerala, at its southern tip, he hoisted himself up into his tiny nook opposite...
...resurrection of India's railroads was a three-step process that has been so successful it is studied by visiting business students from places such as Harvard, Wharton and INSEAD. The first step: speed things up - not the trains themselves but the turnaround time between the end and beginning of each new trip. In 2001 the average time to unload, repair, refuel and reload a freight train in India was 7.1 days. Now it is just five days, which means that 800 trains leave on a new journey each day, rather than just 550. Given that an additional trip...
...Finally, passenger trains have also been increased in length. Until a few years ago a typical train had about 15 carriages. IR officials discovered that a passenger-train journey could earn a profit with 24 carriages, which became the target length. By pushing the "quicker, heavier, longer" mantra, rail bosses have also been able to improve services. For example, in 2006 IR began offering special express trains on certain routes such as the run between New Delhi and Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. Tourists making day trips to India's most popular tourist attraction now can book online...
...Still, IR has miles to go before it can be called a first-class operation. Train travel in India remains infuriatingly slow. A 1,378-mile (2,217 km) trip from New Delhi to Goa just before Christmas, for instance, took me 35 hours, almost a day longer than a train trip over a similar distance in Europe would take. Because of a lack of equipment and tiny station platforms, freight is sometimes thrown from trains in heaps. The heavier loading, critics charge, has caused more breakdowns. (Kumar denies this.) Older carriages can be dirty, shabby and full of cockroaches...
...same time, the value that voters place on résumé is constantly shifting. James A. Baker III is an authority on this. In 1980, he managed the campaign of his well-credentialed friend George H.W. Bush, under the slogan "A President we won't have to train." But the public mood was sour on Washington, and victory went to an outsider, Ronald Reagan, who had never served in Washington. Eight years later, the mood was stay the course, and Bush's experience as Vice President was his ticket to victory. Then the atmosphere turned again...