There has been a lot of interest from Yale and Carnegie Mellon and even the World Bank has invited the RJD chief for a session at a global forum scheduled for the early part of 2007, by which time Lalu would have presented his fourth Railway Budget, which is expected to see the departmental enterprise's cash surplus touch Rs 20,000 crore.
The railway minister is, however, yet to accept the invitation.
For the case studies, the groundwork has already been done with teams of professors having visited the country and various railway establishment.
They have also met industry chambers and railway users to get their assessment of the changed scenario.
Sources said what has drawn the West to Rail Bhawan is the strategy which has resulted in profits, despite fare and freight rates having either remained unchanged or having been cut.
"We have not resorted to corporate strategies adopted by leading companies globally to turn the corner. They always resorted to cutting workforce to improve bottomlines. But that is not the case with the railways," said an official.
Besides, Indian Railways, which has sizable passenger traffic, has registered better operating ratios than the freightdriven US Railroad.
In Europe where passengers drive railways operations have been heavily subsidised.
(Source-Times Of India,21/12/06)
