Fighting the tyranny of technology seems to be a major challenge for the recently constituted Asian Railways Association (ARA) that hopes to play its part in the regional integration of railway systems. With ARA ready to go, the Trans-Asian Railway (TAR), a network that proposes to link Asia with Europe across 26 countries, gets a new breath of life.The organisation, formed by the coming together of nine countries, has Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Sri Lanka as its founding members. Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Thailand and Vietnam have indicated that they would join the association later. Railway Board chairman J P Batra is ARA’s first chairman. (Batra has also been elected the first non-European president of the International Railway Union, a body that focuses on pan-European integration of railways.)Last week, the Union Cabinet gave its approval for signing and ratifying the Inter-governmental Agreement on TAR. The agreement will formalise the coordinated development of TAR. This will help movement of rail traffic, and improvement of trade and tourism among Asian countries.The project attempts to create a network that will bring synergies between different systems existing in different countries to allow for a seamless movement of goods and people. Its objectives are to:• Promote integration of rail systems at the pan-Asian level• Nurture inter-operability of rail services• Establish service standards• Foster cooperative effort for human resource developmentThese objectives will be achieved through seven tasks across countries. Among others, these include data compiling of rail systems and technology platforms, laying down of minimum service standards, and harmonising of operational, commercial, technical and regulatory practices.Of these, technology and its accompanying politics and economics is the biggest challenge. An accompanying note to ARA’s Articles of Association, titled Integration of Railway Systems, criticises the “domination of railway technology by developed countries”. It notes that “new technologies always involve embedded inflexibilities”.According to the note, developed countries “have used their regional railway associations to showcase their technical prowess. Unable to develop its own technology, the rest of the world has had to rely on imports from these countries. Often, these imports have introduced and reinforced existing technological discontinuities.”Add the shrinking life cycles of technology, leading to frequent imports and “which has accentuated the problem of technological discontinuities”. This, the note concludes, has come at a cost, “which has been increasing over time and which most developing railways can ill-afford.” The formation of ARA and other regional and international associations is intended to “harmonise technology platforms”. An “extended role” of ARA, as envisaged in its Articles of Association, is to “act as a facilitator for private sector participation in sector-specific needs. In the process, it would establish linkages with similar other railway associations, inter-governmental organisations, trade bodies, research and training institutions with a regional spread.”As per the recommendations of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) and the Asian Institute of Transport Development, increasing connectivity and promoting interoperability is the key.Apart from standardising the network, the recommendations include building 17 “missing links” in the region, including India-Nepal, India-Bhutan, India-Bangladesh and India-Myanmar links. But as a Rail Bhawan official notes, this is easier said. “Different countries have different gauges, different axle loads, different moving dimensions and different tractions. Getting all these together on a single platform for smooth flow of traffic and passenger is not going to be easy.”
