railways neat and clean

The only way to improve railway is to first stop subsidizing the passenger fare and then reduce the freight rates. this will mean railway will begin earning well from freight section which in future could lead to possible reduction in fare or at least make finds available for modernization of railways. In case of rail freight, there should be many outlets made available where you can book rail freight and also receive goods. This will obviate the need for those wishing to send goods by train to go to the railway station and suffer its red tape. It might be a good idea to rope in speed post for this part of freight receipt and home delivery mechanism. Dedicated freight routes could be one way forward to make railway earn from freight and thus make funds available for the government to improve the system. The only way to stop touts exploiting the passengers is to make more trains available so that there would be more seats available per day than passenger on every route. Attaching freight or mail cars can take care of some vacant seats that might have to be carried in such scenario. The idea of foreign investment in railway is a good idea that should be explored fully. more  

Dear Discussion Group, Here are some ground level sugestions to improve quality of services leading to better travel experience of common traveller - 1. Cleanliness : At every railway junction or at higher grade railway station, there should be a officer to inspect hygiene and cleanliness, he should sign off coaches inspected by him for the trains starting off. he should also monitor regular cleaning and hygiene status of the status. Uncovered moving fruit and eatery stalls should be stopped, fixed shops should be encoraged. Tea/Coffee Vending machine should be installed in select trains 2. Long Distance Trains : In long distance trains say running for more than 500 KMs, general compartment should not be appended, instead, general class trains should be run, this reduces burden of fare hike on common man and shall also result in more availability of reserved seats, increasing income, some routes like Delhi-Patna, Delhi-Mumbai can be considered to begin with. Special Corporate Class trains should be devised connecting business cities in office timings. 3. Intertrain Ticket Facilitation must happen, so that in the extreme situation if a train is missed out, on some additional amount, on preference basis, reserved seats can be ensured for a passanger, who missed out the train. 4. Unmanned Crossing Gates : In stagewise manner, Guards should be placed in Unmanned Crossing Gates, This service could be outsourced to local agencies operating from nearby location, such as, near Kanpur area, Kanpur based agency 5. TTE, Train's Guard, Doctor and Security personals name and mobile number should be made available, rather should be stamped on each of Koch. 6. Train Reservation during the journey, Handheld devices should be used to stop in-journey corruption in waitling list confirmation of reservations. 7. Passanger's complaint : Passanger's complaint registered against a TTE or other executives, should be made a component in service book for promotion and continuity of deployment. 8. Contract for services at railway stations should be transparent and quality of service based. Best Regards, Lalit Mishra more  

The main bane of railway is monopoly. Monopoly leads to inefficiency, corruption and total disregard to customer service. Monopoly has also lead to huge gap between demand and supply. The way forward is to go the airway's way. Airports are developed & managed by both private and public agencies, but are regulated by DGCA. Again airlines are run by both private and public agencies, but regulated by Government. Similarly, we need to have railway stations developed & managed by private or public agencies and trains run by both private & public agencies. Government should have regulatory authority. Modiji's statement - Government has no business to be in business - is 100% applicable here. more  

To improve railway sevices, the following may be useful: 1. Repeated training and retraining of railway employees of all levels to be taken up in right earnest and professional, social and religious organisations need to be invited and involved. Thereby the present mindset need to be changed. 2. Leaflets must be circulated at the start of the journey amongst passengers and taken back after one hour. while taking back, the passengers signature may be taken on a register, that he has read, understood and agreed to follow the do's and don'ts. This leaflet needs to highlight relevant issues- duties of a passenger, clean habbits, penalty for littering etc. as also the rights of the passengers. periodic health check up of catering staff should be mandatory. Gloves and head gear should be compulsory for catering staff. Catering supervisor to be made accountable. Complain/suggestion facility should be easily available to passengers for recording their grievances/ suggestions. Implementation mechanism should be made foolproof . Provision for severe punishment for dereliction of duties in all areas must be legalized and implemented. more  

The efficiency of the railways is to be improved.right person to be posted at the right place., i.e.,HRD of Railways needs improvement.Reservation percentage is to be reduced gradually. Reservation may be limited only at the entry level-K. Vishnumohan. more