Thinking everything in terms of profit and loss and working only for profit and selling those where there is loss .... is not the job of government. Government is for everybody be it rich, poor everybody. Government got elected by rich, poor everybody and so its his responsibility to look after everyone. People of certain part of country who thinks only about profit and loss business in everything is the main cause of problem ( don't take it personally). Transport is the main mode of travel from one place to another for Job, for studying, for medical reasons, for business, etc everything. Poor people are largely dependent on Railways for travel for job, business, etc and government is bound or responsible for providing this means of transportation for rich, poor, everybody. Government should not think about profit all the time in providing public transport. If government...
more... backsout of transportation and allow only private players to run trains, bus,etc...then where will poor man go...they cannot afford high ticket prices of private trains to travel for earning their daily needs, for treatment, etc......
The priority tasks of government that you mentioned " welfare, employment, development ". IR or say transportation is a part of all 3 ....... IR does welfare of a region, IR provides Employment, IR does development of a region, country. So leaving IR how can government do all these 3 tasks?