Since what transpires at high-level interaction remains under wraps unless intentionally leaked to the media, there is little to worry over the new railway minister’s complaint of feeling “suffocated” at a meeting of the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (which oversees commuter-oriented projects in the western metropolis) at which the construction of elevated rail corridors was under focus.

With the mayhem at the Elpinstone Road overbridge, and a couple of derailments, having confirmed that top-level changes in Rail Bhawan did not suffice to revamp the system, it was possible that Piyush Goyal felt a need for some positive publicity, and what better way to ensure that by alleging that corruption among officials ~ which the people would lap up ~ was inflating project-costs.

And trying to contend that the much-criticised bullet-train would cost less per kilometre than a couple of projects in hand in the Mumbai region was a particularly underhanded shot that the minister fired.

For as senior officials subsequently pointed out, the high-speed corridor did not involve constructing stations at frequent intervals. The cost of the bullet train track is estimated at Rs 81 crore per kilometre, while the projection is Rs 200 crore for the BandraVirar and CMST-Panvel elevated corridors. The minister would do well to commission an independent study to work out the complete cost of the suburban project, and if it confirms his suspicions of widespread corruption to take the officials to most severe task.

Sweeping comments without facts upon which to base them may make for political popularity, but not administrative efficiency. Having planted the “corruption seed” in the public mind, Goyal would be expected to take matters to a logical conclusion. Corruption has no place in the BJP’s scheme of things, the Prime Minister consistently emphasises.

Goyal now has the opportunity to prove the point. The layman would not be happy if the matter rested there. And the minister would run the risk of being dubbed “hollow” if he permitted the corrupt to remain in office.

“Bashing” the railway staff has become a matter of political convenience, but as a series of mishaps underscore the real fault lies elsewhere. Politicians demand, and ministers concede, more trains, more stoppages and higher speeds without any professional assessment of the implications.

The introduction of dynamic fares on upper class travel in prestigious trains hit some headlines ~ today the first-class air-conditioned compartments are running empty, it is cheaper to use a no-frills airline. Re-railing the railway is a mammoth task involving the active support of every member of the “railway family”.

By even hinting at corruption at the top Goyal risks losing the backing of the very people he would call upon to deliver results.