Mass communication and favored by most
Cheapest & convenient mode of transport today
Puts people at their destination, may be few hours late
Some Good deeds of Past:
Large infrastructure, largest network / organization with trained manpower
Support infrastructure for manufacturing, Repair and overhaul, R&D etc
Online Reservation system. And ID essential
Innovation Jan Shatabdi, Garibrath, Rajdhani Duranto, shatabdi etc
Problems as seen:
Operational: Delays should be overcome by tight/ rigid control
Train Safety: needs tobe addressed by specialists
Passenger Safety: needs to be improved. Losses to be minimum
Delhi zone passengers are at threat for their life or belongings ,if standing on doors
(usually trains move at snail speed and miscreators hanging on electrical poles play mischief)
Cleanliness &Hygiene: A serious cause of concern . long way ahead
Food: Hygiene is most important. Secondly variety of food should be available. Frequent cases reported of stomach ailments after consumption of food. However simple but better & hygienic food is served from smaller stations or base kitchens . Base kitchen and pantry service was much better before privatization.
Bed Rolls & Linen: Dirty linen re circulated. Observation that the linen gets much more dirtier while folding, laying on floors in coaches or platforms. Training of staff and supervision / surveillance. Some aids if required like storage kits/ bags may be the solution
Cleanliness: Toilets are real concern. Some issues needs to be addressed in toilet design and while fabrication of coach itself. Toilets needs to be re-designed with cleanliness in mind. Some suggested measures like ceramic tiled floors and walls( if feasible), ceramic fittings . Rajdhani / Shatabdi type toilets may not work in Indian context. They should have minimal of protrusions . On board hygiene team is unable to bring required change. Bio toilets are being talked about but needs to be proved in public domain.
Commercial: Ticket availability is poor. Hording and black market needs check. Checks or balance on reservation and canceled tickets data may reveal the point of origination. Secondly, corruption needs to be addressed.
Root cause:
Masses use Railways with population explosion
Differential speed of trains
Short distance Vs Long distance passengers
Luxury Vs Comfort Vs need
Encouragement from Govt, PSU and Private firms for LTC packages. Relook ( in lieu of free passage hotel stay could be free. This will relieve the load on railways
Absence of alternative to Railways for fright and passenger movement
Some Short term Measures:
1.Most Trains originating/ terminating at metro stations which are overcrowded. Scope for infrastructure enhancement is negligible or at much higher cost. For example say Tamil Nadu exp instate of termination at Delhi can be stretched to say Ambala or Ludhiana or even smaller stations. Or to divert to Kanpur or Jaipur. A closed loop system ( clockwise and anticlockwise) between metros may be more effective say Delhi- Howrah- Chennai- Mumbai Delhi or four or five cities dispersed. This may give enhanced utilisation of coaches / wagons
Duties of staff Members : Well defined and supplemented by training as required. Some small measures to enhance their effectiveness. Suggestions from staff members will go long way ( “Quality circle” and “5S” or “6S” ( some people add safety in addition to sort, systemize, sanitize, standardize and sustain )
Effective utilization of existing infrastructure , close on ground monitoring by management, decision support system backed by data or IT
Study to identify lesser used routes and scope for their utilization for decongestion of traffic
Supplement Railway infrastructure by River or Sea transportation where feasible
Enhanced Automated Signaling system to increase average traffic speed
Study to estimate cost of hauling a coach mile to rationalize fares or frights
Peak demand : with extra coach/s or even extra train with say 10 min interval . Thus both would pass a section in same time slot ( to extend feasible)
Encourage double deckers, where feasible
10.Reservation system to record next choice in case WL ticket is not confirmed like chair car, or upper or lower class travel against requisite payment . more