I have been travelling by Indian Railways extensively in Andhra since I was born. The trips took were mostly touching Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Tirupati, Chennai, Calicut & Bangalore.
The various phases I observed were:
Late 70?s and early eighties:
Coal engines ? Single track ? no safety ? dirty & smelly ? hard beds ? more unreserved coaches ? Lots of beggars ? fun to travel ? food packed from home was the best option - all trains running late all the time.
Late eighties to early nineties:
Diesel engines & electric trains ? Double track ? no ?safety ? still dirty & smelly ? not so hard beds ? less unreserved coaches ? lots of beggars ? fun to travel ? food packed from home or you get sick - few trains running late all the time
Late nineties to now
Lots of electric tracks but still using diesel on some high traffic routes like Bangalore ?tirupati, - Double track ? still no safety ? still dirty & smelly except a few trains like rajadhani, godavari & some intercities. ? not so hard beds ? almost no unreserved coaches compared to the volume of unreserved passengers ? still lots of beggars and eunuchs ? slightly less fun to travel ? food can be had at railways if it is foiled rather than served on tray or paper or leafs but still you might get sick - most trains running on time most of the time ? website with most relevant information.
In 30 years if the railways have progressed this little, that is because other modes of transportation are not available to most places. Only now bus services (especially Volvo & private services) are making inroads in a major way as a preferred way of travelling due to better roads connecting cities.
In most countries where we see ultra fast trains with onetime arrivals the railways improved because they had stiff competition from other modes of transport like airlines, buses and cars. In India we never had airlines for the middle class, nor did we have good roads or good solidly built buses or cars. But that is changing slowly so this should make railways more competitive.
Already there are proposals to introduce bullet trains. But railways should first concentrate on efficiency with online bookings, taking security & complaints within coaches very seriously, easy access to stations, better ergonomically designed coaches with more services to high volume destinations.
I still like the railways for their cheapest services and connecting every nock and corner of the country.
They will have cut the prices on the A/C coaches or else soon there will be no takers for their A/C couches.