Indian Railways : On the Right Track?

The Union Minister for Railways, Ms. Mamta Banerjee, deserves applause for her strong convictions and to stand on her own terms surmounting the political pressures, to protect the interest of the common man. A hike in fuel price will lead to rise in prices of almost all commodities. Already an average Indian is finding it difficult to survive due to the inflation and price hike of essential commodities such as food. Bringing down the prices may be a Herculean task after allowing for a hike.

“Social viability should be the priority than commercial viability for measuring projects", as stated by the minister herself. But society is not restricted to only the minister’s state. Patronizing the interests of only the constituencies/states of the MPs/ministers forgetting the fact that they are Union Ministers has become a predominant phenomenon in Indian poltics. None to blame. MPs are answerable to the people who have elected them and so all the sops.

Certain matters require urgent attention if the minister is really concerned of the society and a common passenger.

1. Improve cleanliness of the coaches and ensure proper maintenance of coaches. (Rats, cockroaches, ticks and noxious insects are co-passengers in a second class compartment and wonderfully even in AC coaches).

2. Toilets in trains have to be cleaned before the start of every journey and twice a day (at least once a day) in case of long journey trains. The unbearable smell from the toilets due to lack of cleaning makes the journey suffocating especially for the passenger seated at either end of the coaches.

3. Use of technology to avoid the human waste in railway tracks can be given a thought.

4. One or more waste bins can be provided in all coaches irrespective of the class and these should be emptied at regular intervals at certain chosen stations to prevent spilling. Passengers have to be strictly advised and penalized if found to take rules for granted.

5. The rusted coaches have to be replaced by good ones. The iron protrusions of the windows, doors and jammed panes are life threatening.

6. Hygiene of food served from the pantry has to be ensured. In most trains, the food purchased from outside (sometimes stale depending on the fortune of the passenger) is served in the pantry at a higher rate as per the imagination of the person in the pantry.

7. There should be a public grievance system/ feedback system for every journey and a system to take appropriate action or address such grievances.

8. The availability of tickets for crowded trains/routes has to be ensured by allowing more trains in such routes. Innocent passengers are exploited and looted by the immoral TTEs/ railway employees. Corruption by the TTEs and other railway personnel should be strictly prevented by strict penalties to the guilty.

9. Proper monitoring system should be employed to avoid the unreserved passengers occupying the reserved seats and unauthorized sale of tickets to ‘influential’ passengers undermining the merit under the reservation system. Some ‘smart’ passengers take a general compartment ticket and enter even into the AC and enjoy the journey by bribing the TTEs when most others have to cancel their journey due to non availability of tickets/ seats.

10. The tatkal reservation scheme should be opened atleast 5 days prior to start of the journey instead of 2 days to facilitate for reservation for 'to and fro' journeys in case of emergencies. This can be implemented for long distance trains.

11. Senior citizens, disabled and sick persons should be provided with facilities for mobility/lift for moving from one platform to the other or for boarding the trains since climbing the stairs and walking through the crowded and lengthy platform will be difficult. Underground subways may be a viable alternative. Also provisions have to be made to reserve the lower berths to senior citizens (if any) in the compartment.

12. In case of long distance journeys, the safety of passengers has to be ensured by employing adequate and efficient police personnel. A facility for complaining about mis-behaviour of co-passengers (if any) has to be made available for ensuring safety of lone/lady passengers.

13. It would be extra sweet if a medical practitioner(s) and medical shop is provided within the train itself.

14. Smoking and drinking by the passengers and railway personnel/ pantrywalas should be strictly prevented.

All these rules/ ethics have to be enforced uniformly across the country. There are more serious problems in some parts of the country like burning the trains by hooligans to mark protests, mangling the railway tracks by bomb blasts, train accidents due to carelessness or climatic factors such as fog and flood, looting of passengers by antisocial elements, delay in journey by hours due to heavy rail traffic etc. The problems are numerous and practical solutions may require cooperation of other departments/ministries as well.

It is not easy and as simple as it looks for the largest public enterprise to make the train journey comfortable. At least the minister can address the basic necessities (comfort is a word of distant future). The public will be more than happy to give a few rupees as fare if the services are good. All is well when said but in practice…?.

Travelling in train should not be at the risk of one’s health and life. HAPPY JOURNEY INDIAN RAILWAYS!!!!!