NEW DELHI: Railway minister Suresh Prabhu has some path breaking ideas to bring the loss-making retrograde organisation back on track. He has promised new ideas, cutting of red tape, decentralisation and empowering of zonal railways.Senior railway officials with whom he shared the ideas were impressed but also wary of implementation. Among things that Prabhu talked about are decentralisation of authority from the Railway Board to the zones, incentivising GMs for timely completion of projects and leveraging vast tracts of railway land to raise credit for the cash-strapped organisation. Prabhu was not in favour of privatisation of railway land or leasing it to private builders.He talked of getting foreign investment into the sector, especially from Japan , which is already funding the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DGC) project of the railways. “All very good and radical ideas but will need a complete change in the way the 161-yearold organisation has been functioning. It will turnaround the railways if the minister can implement them,” said a senior railway official As per sources, Prabhu is in favour of decentralisation of tendering process to the respective zones. As per the current procedures, most high-value tenders — over `150 crore — come to the Railway Board and are cleared by the minister himself. “He made it clear that he doesn’t want time to be wasted in the entire long-winding process and wants GMs to be empowered to handle the tenders at the zonal level. This would also reduce corruption,” said the railway official However, a railway board member , cynical after over three decades spent in the organization, said that this will only prevent political corruption — the minister will not be able to influence the tendering process. “What about the bureaucrats? Senior railway board members including the Chairman Railway Board will be able to influence the GMs in the tendering process. After all, their ACRs, transfers and postings are taken care of by Rail Bhawan,” he said. Moreover, he added, the specifications of the tenders were all issued by the Railway Board, and they were often used to favour some party or the other.Railway officials said the idea of not privatising railway land or giving it on long-term lease was completely different from what railways have been working on for past decade. “The Rail Land Development Authority was set-up to use the ample railway land as an asset to raise money for the railways. The RLDA had finalised several contracts,” said another officer “The idea may be good but it will require either scrapping of RLDA or new set of rules to be made. As of the now, the Railway Act does allow for mortgaging of the land. It is a government asset and we do not have the authority to mortgage. RLDA allows us leasing and even outright sale but not mortgaging,” he explained. Prabhu refused to comment and said he will talk only after a month when he settles down in the ministry.