Turnaround in Indian Railways- A Study of Southern Railway

Indian Railways, the world's third largest network and one among the largest employers, has been contributing to the industrial, economic and social development of the country. It faced a severe financial crisis in 2001 which resulted in abnormal hike in freight rate. This coupled with lack of customer oriented services, led to giving up of its market share to roadways. However, certain measures taken to control cost and increase revenue brought IR from the acute financial crisis to a noticeable success which is technically known as 'turnaround'. The present study was undertaken in a situation where there has been a disagreement in respect of factors that contributed to turnaround. Research, being a fact finding enquiry, concentrates on identifying these factors.SR, the fifth largest zone in IR, with its lines spread over the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, stood an exception to the general phenomenon of increased surplus. So, the researcher makes an attempt to study to what extent the turnaround measures have improved the financial performance in SR. The book is a must read for academicians, administrators, beaurocrats, policy-makers and aspiring researchers.