(1) Bigger and more comprehensive question is - "Why should Citizens & economy of India should bear the inefficiency of IR?"
(2) Major and decisive benefits of Railway operation over road:
Energy Efficiency-Friction and hence energy consumption between rail and wheel is just 1/6th compared to road and tyre.
Economies of scale- Capacity of a 24 coach train is 1500-2500 depending on the composition...
more... of coach against 30-50 of a bus.
Capacity of a freight train is 5000T as against 15-25T of a truck.
The costing per seat or per berth with railway has to be much more cheaper than the bus.
(3) Following are the facts which are unacceptable:
(3a) Even after having highest freight fares in world, IR is struggling with more than 70% of its revenues going for Pay-Allowance-Pension and nothing left for modernisation, renewal, maintenance, loan repayment, etc.
(3b) IR continuously losing its market share to other inefficient modes of transport: Freight 90% to 30%, Passenger 75% to 15% since independence.
(3c) New frequently appearing news like that the non executive cadres are working at homes of officials rather than doing duty, maximum number of cases aginst IR is recieved at CVC,, IR still continuing with British Raj type costly facilities like saloons, Ectreme finincial imprudence decision making eg running trains at occupancy as low as 10% for months/ years, going for Mega projects without ensuring financial returns, political expediency, Departmentalism etc.
Above points give a clear indication that radical changes are a must for bright future of rail transport in India.