Make Railways Better

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  

View all 7 comments Below 7 comments
Entry point and the civic sense should be from our own home not from the School. Parents have to teach them how to behave in the Society and in Public Place. Guidance from the School is secondary. -------------------------------------------- On Fri, 18/7/14, Vinod Dahake wrote: Subject: Commented on "Make Railways Better To: sasikumarvettiyara@yahoo.com Date: Friday, 18 July, 2014, 11:27 AM --- REPLY ABOVE THIS LINE TO POST A COMMENT- Vinod Dahake Vinod Dahake commented on the Post Vinod wrote: "I agree. For example Bed rolls are served in brown paper envelope, excellent proposition. This brown paper envelope costs something but only until it is on a table or berth and not on the floor. Invariably, its discarded /thrown by user or even the bed roll attendant on the floor and now its a "garbage" or dirty , which needs to be cleared only by a sweeper. But clean envelope could have been reused for some good cause or at least disposed off is bin. I describing a scenario in AC compartments probably housing better economic class and expected better citizens. But let me share even in ordinary second class I have come across individuals and families who have these civil sense. so its not the money or education its marley child hood training For this we need to educate people which may be herculean task. Entry point should be schools and children. They should be guiding the society. Awareness can be made through NGO, volunteer organisations, Religious organisations like temples, churches, .... This may drive bigger goal to achieve bigger goal of civic sense in Public place policing detection of defaulters call for long procedures and costs to exchequer. We need to build self disciplined society so policing and subsequent chain of events leading to cost to state be minimised. It's a great challange" View/Comment Reply to this email to post a comment. This email was sent to sasikumarvettiyara@yahoo.com. If you don't want to receive emails from LocalCircles in future, please Unsubscribe. LocalCircles, Inc., 1556 Halford Ave., Suite 290, Santa Clara, CA USA 95051. 107 Urbtech Matrix Tower, Plot No. B-4, Sector - 132, Noida, India, 201304.Privacy Policy. more  
I agree. For example Bed rolls are served in brown paper envelope, excellent proposition. This brown paper envelope costs something but only until it is on a table or berth and not on the floor. Invariably, its discarded /thrown by user or even the bed roll attendant on the floor and now its a "garbage" or dirty , which needs to be cleared only by a sweeper. But clean envelope could have been reused for some good cause or at least disposed off is bin. I describing a scenario in AC compartments probably housing better economic class and expected better citizens. But let me share even in ordinary second class I have come across individuals and families who have these civil sense. so its not the money or education its marley child hood training For this we need to educate people which may be herculean task. Entry point should be schools and children. They should be guiding the society. Awareness can be made through NGO, volunteer organisations, Religious organisations like temples, churches, .... This may drive bigger goal to achieve bigger goal of civic sense in Public place policing detection of defaulters call for long procedures and costs to exchequer. We need to build self disciplined society so policing and subsequent chain of events leading to cost to state be minimised. It's a great challange more  
I agree with most of the suggestions and problems pointed out by Mr. Dahake to improve the existing state of affairs of Railways. I must add one more thing regarding public awareness to use the system. The passengers are responsible for making the train and the platforms dirty by throwing wastes, left-over foods, not flushing the toilets after use etc. etc. Most of the passengers are self-centered, not bothered to see that their action is adversely affecting others. Hence, strict punishment by imposing penalty for the wrong-doers is absolutely necessary, for which dedicated supervising by the railways is essential. more  
Suggestions are excellent. Clockwise and anticlockwise loop routes will certainly enhance the occupation ratio and better use of of births/seats going vacant otherwise. instead of running summmer specials on same route but on different days is many times not properly publicised; as suggested by you running another train on same day but with a gap of 10/15 minutes will be a better idea. more  
-------------------------------------------- On Thu, 17/7/14, Vinod Dahake wrote: Subject: Commented on "Make Railways Better To: sasikumarvettiyara@yahoo.com Date: Thursday, 17 July, 2014, 4:48 PM --- REPLY ABOVE THIS LINE TO POST A COMMENT- Opinion from the General public will be better as Railway Staff whether retired or working will have many difficulties to present about non co-operation from the superiors bla bla bla Vinod Dahake Vinod Dahake commented on the Post Vinod wrote: "Can we invite some opinion from Railway staff/ retired staff to share experience difficulties and constraints? " View/Comment Reply to this email to post a comment. This email was sent to sasikumarvettiyara@yahoo.com. If you don't want to receive emails from LocalCircles in future, please Unsubscribe. LocalCircles, Inc., 1556 Halford Ave., Suite 290, Santa Clara, CA USA 95051. 107 Urbtech Matrix Tower, Plot No. B-4, Sector - 132, Noida, India, 201304.Privacy Policy. more  
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