Dear Mr. Goyal,
I'm on board Indian Railways 11044 Madurai - Mumbai LTT Kurla Express. It started its long winding journey from Madurai at 6 p.m. last night. It arrived Kalaburagi over 25 hours later. On time. And this does not seem to be the exception but the rule. So I thought its time to pen a letter to the man in charge of the Railways. We are the first to complain. Its time we take time out to compliment too.
On over 30 journeys in the last 14 months, my train has been significantly late just once. And that too was because it was diverted due to heavy rains and I was surprised they managed to get it to its destination inspite of flooding and significant track damages.
I'm teased about being such an Indian Railways fan in office. And while many, if not most of us criticize public transportation in general and Indian Railways in particular, we fail to see the enormity of the task and the number of variables that the Railways team has to deal with.
To put it in context, think of the number of times our vehicle gives us problems and the number of times we've been delayed. Now multiply that by a billion and add in the fact that the employees are government employees who, we seem to think, never work. And yet the Railways' track record is better than most of us. Across almost all parameters.
Of course anything of the size and scale of the Railways is bound to have a few issues. Most of the issues revolve around us, the user. We do not seem to care about cleanliness and litter and misuse the facilities provided.
There are a few suggestions I have that in mind will help make the Railways that is Awesome, a little better. I'm hopeful that your team will look at these and if found appropriate make a few adjustments.
1. Have a summer uniform for the Ticket CollectorsThe Ticket Collectors are expected to wear jackets as part of their uniform. Jackets in the summer heat is not an appropriate uniform and is extremely uncomfortable in the heat. An alternate should be selected and it could also be based on the weather and the region in which the train is traveling.
2. Replace paper with TC's mobileI've noticed that the TC's spend a lot of time sitting with their paper and doing paper-work. It seems to me (and I could be totally wrong), that most of it revolves around passengers and their itineraries. All of this could be available in amobile app that Railways probably already has. Only modification would be an offline mode, where the TC downloads the details just as he currently collects the papers from his boarding office. This will not only make the TC more efficient, it will also save tons of paper and resources and time in processing, filing, reporting. And also of all those paper storage.
3. Keep train staff fully informedDuring a recent journey, by Mumbai Hyderabad Hussain Sagar Express, it was announced on CST platform that the train has been diverted and will be going via Manmad and thus skipping Pune. There were a few passengers who were Pune bound and the TC who heard the same announcement, recommended that they get off. The TC was then trying to call the 3 digit help number and other numbers which we too had access to, to find out what was happening. And he finally realized that the train was going on its original route via Pune, only once we departed Kalyan and the train was taking the Pune route. This makes no sense. I do understand that in an operation of this scale a few mistakes are bound to happen. However not being able to clarify whether or not its a mistake is the issue. Just like flight attendants and pilots, the train staff should be given a briefing prior to the departure. I suspect this already happens, but it seems like the items covered may have to reviewed. Additionally, the train staff should have access to a dedicated central control room number they can call to get clarifications. And their app can also be updated in real time as well as have a chat facility.
4. Make diversion announcementsDuring the August monsoon flooding in Mumbai, my wife was on her way from Kalaburagi to Mumbai. Several announcements about the arrival of the train in 3 languages were made. They kept referring to the Destination station as Mumbai. After the train had departed the TC was sitting across my wife and doing his paperwork. She noticed that there was a large line drawn and written in large letters something to the effect that, "Train terminating at Pune." She checked with the TC and he told her that due to track damage on the Pune - Mumbai sector the train would terminate at Pune. And the train was reaching Pune around 1 am. Had we known, she would have cancelled her journey. As luck would have it, a kind family had a car picking them up, and offered her a lift from Pune to Mumbai. There were several things that could and should have been done.
a. Inform all passengers whose journey is being affected. Railways already has their mobile numbers and does send SMSs.
b. Make clear announcements at stations when early termination and / or diversions are taking place.
c. Train TC's to inform passengers affected as soon as they board about the situation.
5. Enforce cleanliness at stations and on trainsIt seems like the only way we learn is when it impacts us. And the most effective way to have an impact is to levy penalties. I've seem the cleaning staff on stations and on trains working very hard to clean the place. And we have passengers who without ant regard litter the place, sometimes within seconds of that exact place being cleaned. Having cameras, monitoring and heavy fines for littering is a sure fire way to extend Swacch Bharat to the Railways who already is doing a very commendable job against the odds.
Once again my heartfelt thankfulness for the paradigm shift that has happened in the Railways across the years and noticeably in the last 4 years. A big Thank You to the entire workforce of the Indian Railways, including its contractors and vendors and to you for leading your team in a manner in which we are able to see Change for the Better.
Congratulations and all the very best. We may be losing our Air Maharaja, but it seems like another one is getting ready to wear the throne.
Best regards,
Stephen
