World has
changed radically. India and most Indian manufacturing, retail, and service
sectors have changed for the good. Only one thing which believes in
‘continuity’ is the Indian Railways in spite of the fact that it has completed
more than 160 years. It has not adequately used to its advantage a) the modern
technology, b) increased mobility across the regions, c) preferences of the new
generation customers, d) high tourism potential, and e) loyalty of the Indian
passengers. Volumes can be written on each of these topics to show that what
has been done is not at all enough. There are hundreds reports and research
studies on these topics. My attempt is not to dissect the policy framework or
analyse the financials or explore the technological opportunities to improve
the system.
Indian
Railways is the third largest railway network in the world. It has more than
7000 railway stations and 1.36 million employees and operates about 19000
trains every day. It transports 23 million passengers every day and has an annual
revenue of more than 1 lakh crore.
In this write-up, an attempt is made to make certain
observations from the passengers’ point of view about the service they perceive
while using the Indian Railways. There is no exaggeration in reproducing what
has been observed by me and many fellow passengers during their journey across
the country.
Animal friendly establishment: The Indian Railways (IR) continued to be the single largest
settlement for all rats in the world. That is the impression anyone could get
after watching the rats going around inside the trains, around the trains, on
the railway platforms, and inside hundreds of offices and commercial outlets in
the railway stations. There are innumerable bedbugs inside the berths. People
wake up to find that the rats have damaged the baggage. Cockroaches and many
other unidentifiable living beings enjoy total freedom inside and outside the
railway coaches. How much amount has been spent by the IR to stop this menace?
Anyone- Anytime –Anywhere: IR is magnanimous. Anyone can enter and stay for hours and
days inside the platforms and anywhere in the railway property. Remember, this
is the only government department which has separate security wing called
‘Indian Railways Protection Force’ whose top officers are selected through
national level competitive examination. Railways platforms are full of
unauthorized passengers, unrecognized vendors, illegal agents, thieves, animals
and beggars. Why can’t IR establish a proper entry level security system after
closing the multiple unauthorized accesses?
Free- mobility inside the coaches: Even if you are inside a reserved coach, you could find
hundreds of people moving inside during day and night peeping at each cabin.
Suddenly when you wake up past midnight, you would find people sleeping on the
floor inside the reserved coaches. There are many reports of thefts taken place
in the coaches.
Climbing the upper berths: No change in this system for past several decades. Design of
every other mode and medium of transport in the world has changed, be it auto
rickshaw, four wheeler, boats, airplanes or anything else. But people still
struggle to climb to the middle and upper berths. IR could not find a better design
in spite of their huge number of brilliant engineers. In a coach containing 8
seats, 5 passengers need to struggle to settle themselves on their berths and a
sizable number of passengers are senior citizens and ladies.
Coach position: As usual, passengers wait indefinitely for the arrival of
trains. Coach positions are not displayed in many stations. Even where these
are displayed in the digital screens, that will appear just a few minutes
before the arrival of train making people run with their heavy luggage. Many
passengers would agree that the coaches never stop exactly at the position
displayed.
Where is the train name?: Every
train has been given a name apart from the number. But why can’t the name board
(removable in case coaches need to be changed) be fixed prominently in large
font on each bogie/coach?
Photo: bhatcallys.com |
Crowded over-bridges: Railway over-bridges in most stations are crowded and there
is tough time of senior citizens and women to get through the over bridges.
Passengers come from the opposite side simultaneously and people get crushed
along with their luggage. There are many pickpockets and anti-social elements operate
at these spots.
TTE in the midnight: Many times we need to wait for hours for the TTE to come to
our seat to check the tickets. After going to sleep, TTE comes and switches on
the lights and impolitely wake up the passengers. If your ticket is in RAC
status, you need to go behind the TTE for hours to get a berth allotted to you
as per the correct priority. If you are with family and children, you will get
stranded without seats till the time you find a TTE after hours.
Which station it is? IR is still in the old century as far as digital displays are
concerned. Many times, you wonder while you are inside, which station the train
is passing through. We would like to know whether the station we want to get
down is nearing. The sign boards are placed in the station mostly in the
beginning of the platform or at the end. At other places, if at all any board
is placed; it won’t be possible to read it from the train. How many people have
access to real-time information in their devices? With simple technology and
cheaper cost, train running information can be given in the train itself. Very
few trains have such facility.
Before you eat the food supplied…: If rats
and cockroaches enjoy their stay and mobility inside the coaches, they
definitely prefer the kitchens in the trains. I have seen many rats and
cockroaches even in the first and second A/c coaches. Food is brought to cabins
in open trays and the bearers yell so loudly showering their saliva all over
the food items. Platform vendors keep the snacks in uncovered containers in the
platform. I have witnessed small cockroaches liberally tasting the stuff in the
platform as the vendors wait far way for the next train. One could see them
diluting the chutney with water from the platform taps in some stations.
Untidy interiors: Even the interiors of luxury trains such as Rajdhani,
Shatabdi etc. are not cleaned properly by the staff or the housekeeping agency.
The state of other trains is worse. There are not enough dustbins inside the
coaches. For 72 passengers in a coach, there would be just two waste bins,
which would be full within hours.
Blankets and bed sheets: Blankets are folded by placing them on the floor near the
toilets. Though bed sheets are said to be washed and ironed, blankets are
dry-cleaned only occasionally. In trains like Garib Rath (where one has to
flock around the contract personnel to collect bed sheets on payment of a fee),
the sheets and pillow covers are often in damaged condition. Ladies and senior
citizens also have to go near the toilet/door area to collect the bed sheets in
the night. There is always a very bad smell in the A/C coaches from the dirty
and moist blankets. There are no controls to regulate the Air Conditioners in
each cabin. Closing the vents in the roof is very tedious. At present, senior
citizens and children find it very difficult as the Air Conditioners are never
regulated by the staff early mornings when the temperature falls.
Water bottles: In most stations,
none of the premium brands are available. Passengers are forced to buy
substandard and local mineral water bottles. Why there is a restriction on
this? One senior officer from Railways said that suppliers are selected based
on lowest quote coupled with several other ‘considerations’. Vendors sell only mineral
water bottles from a prescribed list.
Luggage space: For many day-trains, the space for keeping the luggage is
very limited. For some trains, the luggage racks have been fixed just below the
roof and passengers need to take the help of
very tall and well-built co-passengers to keep and take out their
luggage.
Inadequate seating for passengers in the
platforms or waiting halls. In many stations, there are not enough seats for passengers
either in the platforms or in the waiting halls. People wait indefinitely for
the delayed trains in the platforms. Hundreds of people sit and sleep on the
floors in the platforms in bigger stations. Luggage for the brake van including
bikes etc. are also kept on the platform.
Uncovered platforms: Trains are long with many coaches. But in some places, the
platforms are not that long (or the train is not stopping at the right place?).
Even in important stations, there is no roof for part of the platform. Even
when there is roof, water leaks to the platform in some stations.
Inadequate number of fans: There are not enough fans though hundreds of passengers wait
in the platforms. Fans are sparsely placed and at locations not beneficial to
passengers.
Indian Railways is not for people with
disability and for senior citizens: Passengers
with special needs/ disability or those who are senior citizens find it
difficult to use IR because of inadequate facility for them. Lights are
switched on only at the last minute in many originating stations creating
difficulties for the passengers. Charts are pasted in a hurry, that too with
gum all over the paper making it difficult to read, only just a few minutes
before the departure of the train.
Lifts/Escalators/ Ramps: When would all platforms have lifts/escalators/ramps to
exit or to go to other platforms?
Waiting list within minutes: It is a big mystery, how within a few minutes of opening the
reservation (on the first day of the advance reservation period of two months),
you get a waitlisted ticket!
Platform tickets and unreserved tickets: There are long queues to buy the platform tickets and
unreserved tickets. Passengers miss their trains because of the inadequacy of
counters in most stations. IR is yet to start e-ticketing for above tickets. It
is reported that in some stations, platform tickets are given in STD booths in
the platform charging a Rupee extra.
‘Service Unavailable’: It is likely that most of the passengers get this message
very often when they login to the websites of Indian Railways to book the train
tickets. Even registering your cell number is very cumbersome as you would get
notified that the number is already in use when the account was already
deactivated. The largest organization with separate budget could not create a
robust network.
Believes in toilet transparency: How can India ever claim to be a hygiene conscious country
till the time railways stop discharging the human excreta all over the country,
including roads and railway lines near platforms? Till today IR could not find a proper
alternative for this. Even at platforms there are no clean and adequate toilets
in many stations.
The condition of the windows: In most A/C coaches (shatabdi trains and a few luxury trains
are exceptions), there is no way you can see the outside because of the smoky age-old
glass. Glasses of many coaches are not replaced or cleaned for decades. There is
no proper vacuum cleaning done in the interiors to remove the dust. When there
is rain, water leaks through the window in some coaches.
Plugs: People
use the plugs in the cabins for charging their cell phones, laptops etc. But
many plugs do not work and a few plugs will damage your laptop because of fluctuations
in power supply.
Water taps: Water
taps in the toilets in many passenger trains are in the same age old design. In
many long distance running trains, water gets exhausted in the night. Even when
there is water, the pressure is so low because of that you need to keep your
hand for several minutes to clean them.
Coach attendance sell liquor and cigarettes: Some coach attendants have thriving business inside the
trains. Apart from striking deals with unreserved passengers for allotting berths
through TTEs, they also sell liquor and cigarettes to passengers.
Announcements and signs: In many stations there is no proper digital communication regarding
the arrival and departure of trains. The manual boards are also not updated
promptly. If someone wants to enquire in the counter there would be a long
queue. Even if you get access to the counter staff, (people of very few words;
no counter questions please) they will reveal the information as if they are
doing a big favour. Speakers in many platforms are unclear and not clearly
audible. There are many occasions when trains arrive in the platform without
any prior announcements about the correct platform. Advertisements through the
TVs are very lengthy and passengers have to wait for long to see the status
displayed on the TV screens.
Railway enquiry phones: Certain phone numbers are given as belonging to the Indian
Railways in public domain. But many times, none picks up the calls, especially
in railway stations in small towns. Enquiry numbers get disconnected very often
and the passengers lose money calling repeatedly. Internet complaint centre
usually gives an error message.
Blame the computer or blame the man?: There are hundreds of grievances regarding refunds. There
are grievances regarding confirmed tickets getting waitlisted on the date of
journey.
Identity proof: There are umpteen number of grievances related to identity
proof for e-tickets. Even in group tickets, some TTEs ask for identity proof
for everyone. Even when a person with an individual ticket carry a Xerox copy
of one of the valid documents, TTEs mercilessly ask him to pay the entire fare
when he has a ticket with full fare already paid.
Indian Railways can do wonders by improving the quality of service. People still prefer railways, as it it is cheaper and safer than other medium of transport. India has tremendous tourism potential and Indian Railways can benefit a lot from the inflow of passengers from abroad
You are welcome to share your thoughts and experiences on the topic by clicking comments below (or by mail : mail@sibichen.in)
(Opinions expressed in this article are my
personal views and the constructive criticisms spiced with humour are stemmed
out of a sincere wish to see that Indian Railways regain its quality of
service)
© Sibichen K Mathew