C K Jaffer Sharief as Union Minister of Railways in the Narasimha Rao government initiated the move towards a uniform gauge for the railway. Remember the humongous costs and delays suffered with the multiplicity of gauges – broad gauge, meter gauge and even the narrow gauge- through transshipment of goods. Sharief pursued this with single-minded devotion to benefit.
Remember Ghani Khan Chowdhry lavishing his constituency of Malda with prized investments of the railways? The pattern set was followed by Sharief and his successors like Lalu Prasad. Most of the initial gauge conversion projects of the southern railway was concentrated in Karnataka. He also worked to get the wheel and axle plant of the Indian Railway for Bengaluru.
The elegance, economy and efficiency of the single gauge has brought huge benefits. Sharief would be remembered for this.
