The A to Z of the Indian Railways

Indian Railways are Off Track!

by Kali Prasad Chinam

The Indian Railways is getting to be a 200-year old behemoth; however, it continues to function in a time warp. While the railways worldwide have changed over the decades to ensure that passengers reached their destinations in a timely manner and in comfort whilst, at the same time, also ensuring that all the needs of the passengers are available at easy reach.

There are many shortcomings in the single biggest mover (the Indian Railways moves the equivalent of the Australian population every day of the year) of our country which have not been given the due importance by the authorities. Some of the problems are:

a) Trains do not reach their destination on time and also do not maintain their schedule as per the time table given.

b) Trains are not maintained properly and invariably are dirty and infested with vermin and rodents.

c) Toilets are not maintained properly and have not been upgraded to the chemical type resulting in environment pollution and spread of diseases all along the tracks and in the railway stations.

d) The food served in the railway stations and the trains is of very poor quality and there is no check on the vendors and contractors and the Railways own kitchens. Menu planning is completely absent and the passengers are not given a choice on the menu. Pantry cars are in the worst possible condition and the operators are indifferent, discourteous and lackadaisical.

e) There is no access control in the railway stations and homeless persons have made many a platform their shelter for sleeping, bathing, cooking and ablutions. Access Control should also ensure that only ticket holding passengers are allowed on the platforms. Trolleys should be available (as in airports) to enable passengers to carry their own baggage.

f) The coaches in a rake (train) are not manned in full by the railway personnel and each conductor is burdened with taking care of two to three coaches which leads to dissatisfaction in service.

g) The railway staff across the country (with very few exceptions) is self-serving, discourteous and many a time rude to the railway users. The staff does not understand the word ‘service’ despite Indian Railways being a ‘Service’ industry.

h) All the trains operated by the Indian Railways are not provided with Anti Collision Devices (ACD) leading to many accidents.

j) The technical staff does not pay attention to details and passenger comfort and many a time a coach is allowed to leave the workshop or maintenance shed with defects or shortcomings.

k) The quality of bed linen and bath linen provided to passengers is very poor. There is utter discrimination in the treatment of passengers as this is a free service. It is better to make most facilities/services as ‘paid services’ which will ensure that no passenger is discriminated against.

l) The Indian Railways should stop the VIP and VVIP culture and should ensure that the ‘First Come First Served’ mode is observed in totality.

m) The introduction of new trains should be based on ‘demand survey’ rather than politics. This will ensure that no losses are incurred in operating trains on unprofitable routes.

n) At present, there is very little choice in the type of trains/accommodation, the IR should upgrade all trains and reduce travel time to the minimum. The speed of all trains should be such that the distance from origin to destination should be covered at an average speed of 60kmph. The number of halts for different trains should be reduced such that two trains on the same route do not stop at the same stations.

p) The Railways are not environmental friendly. All tracks should be electrified and the usage of diesel traction should be stopped altogether. All coaches and wagons should have solar panels on the roof and bogie-mounted generators to augment the power requirements. All coaches in all trains should be air-conditioned. Passengers found to be damaging the environment as well as railway property should be heavily penalized. All stations and coaches should be provided with satellite television, wi-fi and charging points for mobiles and laptops, and for this, there should be stabilized power supply.

q) Vendors of food items and other items should be thoroughly screened to ensure only quality food and general items are sold in railway stations and on board trains. Unauthorized vendors should not be allowed in the railway stations as well as on board stations.

r) All stations and coaches should be handicapped friendly and facilities should be provided towards this aspect.

s) All concessions to travelers should be removed in totality and the railways run as a commercial organization.

t) The Indian Railways should become self-sufficient and self-sustaining and stop depending upon government funds/grants/loans. For this to happen the Indian Railways should be corporatized and the Railway Ministry scrapped.

u) The Indian Railways should then collaborate with any person/organization who has the technical and financial wherewithal to improve every aspect of their operations.

v) Freight operations should be made a separate entity and have their own tracks on all important routes. The freight operations should not be located near passenger facilities. Parcel services should also be merged with freight operations.

w) The coaches, wagons and locomotives should be used in such a way as to achieve 95% up-time. This will ensure increased revenue.

x) The staff members need to be re-trained and those who are found lacking should be posted to such duties where they do not affect passengers or freight operations.

y) All unmanned and manned level crossings should be closed and alternate means provided such as under-passes and over-bridges.

z) The movers and shakers of the Indian Railways should understand that user-satisfaction and profit generation are the basics of managing this huge organization.