Indian Railways Invites Suggestions From The Public.

Let me give some suggestions here:

1. Improvement in system efficiency and productivity of resources.

The Railways has hundreds of acres of unutilized or under-utilized land in vaious cities. For example, in Bangalore, around the city railway station, there is unutilized land. This piece of land can be used to build 3-star hotels or people. Apart from that, other passenger facilities can be provided and a portion of the land can be used to build Malls and multiplexes so that it can generate revenue for the Railways.

Existing railway tracks/ lines within city limits of Bangalore - from Kengeri and Bidadi to K.R. Puram and Whitefield and from Bellary Road and Yeshwantpur to Bangalore city should be utilized for local trains as in Mumbai and Chennai. If this is not viable, an elevated railway system like in Chennai should be built on top of the existing railway network for local commuting so that no land acquisitions would be needed and hence there wouldn't be any litigations. This would ensure speedy implementation of the project. Further, existing railway stations could be utilized [With modifications] for local trains and no new expensive infrastructure need to be built for the purpose. It also gets fully integrated with inter-city railway network since it is built right on top of this network. The railways gets additional revenue and the traffic gets eased out in the city of Bangalore to a great extent. Also, metro railway system as in Delhi or any other railway system can be considered while building atop the existing railway network.

2. Introduction of modern systems and technologies

First of all, the trains need to be re-designed. They need to be made aerodynamic so that minimum energy is needed to pull a train. The engine in particular need to be made so. Bogies need to be lighter and this should be done after a thorough examination of engineering aspects. The railways needs to do away with introducing another sleeper on the side in 2nd class compartments as this would make rail journeys uncomfortable as a result of congestion and movement of people within a compartment would be difficult. Toilets would not be enough to cater to these extra passengers. These aspects would put-off a regular passenger who has other options like buses in a competitive market. Another very important aspect is the fact that the existing toilet system is outdated and was designed in the British era when land was in plenty, population was less and human excreta being thrown around along railway tracks was not as serious a concern as it is today. With growing population, more trains and railway stations, dirty trains and stations are a serious health hazard and stinking trains are a cause of revenue loss to the Railways. The railways should immediately replace the existing outdated toilet system with state-of-the-art automatic flush system and most importantly, ensure that nothing falls down to the ground from these toilets.

3. Achieving better customer satisfaction through value addition to customer services.

The railways need to be commended for introducing the concept of upgradation in trains. However, there are several instances wherein upgradation is not done and several 1st class and 2nd class coaches are seen plying empty. This needs to be immediately checked and it must be ensured that upgradation is done in all circumstances and more passengers are thus accomodated in the trains. This would generate more revenue and would also be appreciated by passengers who get upgraded without having to pay extra.

The "Shub Yatra" scheme as introduced by IRCTC needs to be replicated by the Indian Railways and this also needs to be extended to Non-A/C passengers apart from the existing A/C passnegers. Regular train commuters can opt for this and this should entitle a plethora of benefits like free accident insurance cover, disability cover and free tickets. Also, free dining tickets for two can be a part of the list of freebies for patronage.

4. Improvement in safety, reliability and reduction in maintenance costs.

The Indian Railway network consists of very old bridges all over the country. Such bridges need to be immediately demolished and new bridges need to be constructed. If one takes into account the cost of an accident, both in terms of invaluable human lives and the cost of repairs to the railways, the cost of re-construction of railway bridges is too less a price to pay. Further, all railway tracks across cities and towns should be fenced with barged wire or some other material so that humans or animals don't stray onto them. Also, all unmanned level crossing should be converted to automatic level crossings, and such crossing should be fitted with cameras so that the Station Masters can take a look before closing the gates from his room in the station. All level-crossings, Manned as well-as Unmanned should be immediately fitted with hi-tech signalling system with voice activation and camaras along with remote control. All gates should be fit tight so that no gaps exist for people to cross over when closed through such gaps. Those who cross over during red signals at railway crossings should be punished severely with cognisable cases and non-compoundable cases against them. Owners of animals - dogs, sheep, cattle etc. who allow them to stray around railway tracks should be penalised and jailed.

All trains need to be installed with GPS and actual tracking of trains should be made possible  even through a mobile phone and a call center.

Maintaince costs can be reduced by re-designing and re-modelling of trains, making them lighter and aerodynamic [Especially, the Engine].

5. Enhancement of throughput capacity of the existing systems.

As mentioned above, existing railway network needs to be fully utimized in cities for local train service either on the existing system itself or by building right above the existing railway lines an elevated railway corridor that takes care of and caters to local commuting. This will need the least investment since there are no land acquisitions, and no wastage of time since there are no court cases. Existing infrastructure, after re-designing, can be used for this. No new infrastructure needs to be created for this.

Similarly, railway land should be utilized for passenger comfort and amenities and shopping Malls can be constructed for generation of revenue.

Dear Mr. Muralidhar Rao,

Thanks for your reply. I was out of town and hence could not reply earlier. You are right when you say that there are already many Malls and stations are already cluttered. But since the question was "Improvement in system efficiency and productivity of resources", I thought of that. Do you have any other suggestion with regard to improvement in system efficiency and productivity of resources? An idea that brings in more resources and efficiency and yet does not cause congestion would be wonderful.

With regard to multi-tier railway system, it is definately possible because many countries have it and technology has improved so much that a railway line exists below the sea between France and U.K. Why can't a multi-level railway line be built?

Further with regard to point No. 1, the railways are bound to express their inability to introduce trains between Kerala, Goa, Hyderabad and Bangalore stating that the tracks are few. Do you have any suggestion with regard to this?

About Point No. 4, are you sure about what you are saying? I thought passenger trains [Except between some stations] are always full.

With regard to point No.5, toilets should consist of automatic flushing system both in the trains and in the stations so that nobody needs to operate the flush and the toilets are also kept clean.

With regard to point No.6, again the issue of availability of tracks comes into the focus. But, I also would suggest the railways to introduce the Ro-Ro scheme as in Konkan Railway where trucks are loaded/ driven onto empty bogies along with the truck attendents/ Drivers and then when the train reaches its destination, the trucks are driven off the bogies. It gets railways their share of revenue, fossil fuel is saved, pollution is less, accidents are less and the truck crew gets rest and are more efficient.

More comments awaited.

Thanks for your response Mr. Narayan.

1. With reference to point No.1, the biggest problem with Bangalore City station in particular is the stink. Especially, in the mornings. There are just two cross-overs - 1. The over bridge and the other, the under-bridge. People can be spotted crossing the tracks wherever the height of the platforms is less. Trains keep moving, engines keep shunting etc. and this is a very dangerous situation. The railways need to block all such paths where people are able to cross-over. Same time, they should build escalators and more bridges for pedestrians to cross over. An accidents is waiting to happen. Moreover, as you rightly pointed out, a bus bay needs to be constructed at all major junctions from where city buses can ply. It should be similar to Volvos plying from BIAL.

2. With regard to high-frequency of trains, again the issue of availability of tracks come into the picture. Chennai-Bangalore is already crowded. More tracks need to be laid.

Dear Vasanth,

Good points. Indeed, I would have been frustrated waiting for a ticket in that long queue. Online ticketing is a very good option. How about having people in the form of Conductors in each bogie to issue tickets?

I agree with you fully about small stations.

With regard to suburban trains being introduced on the existing tracks, we need to file RTIs and get more information about the number of trains that travel along those routes, the time each train takes to traverse and the distance. We should not forget goods trains. We should also get information about regular checks that Pointsmen do to maintain tracks and to ensure that fishplates and bolts are intact. We should know their working time and procedure. If all this is fine, we can start lobbying.

Thanks for your valuable suggestions. More guys are needed here. Please try and inform the regular bloggers on other threads such as Mangalore Trains etc. I guess they have missed this.

Yes, we cannot simply sit quiet. So, we do both. The Railways have in any case called for suggestions and we give them that. Same time, we should file RTIs to find out what they propose to do with those suggestions. We should ask for intricate details about what they propose to do, who handles it, how it is handled etc.

Next, as you rightly pointed out, we should file an RTI asking for details about CRS. Frankly, I don't know what exactly is CRS and the recommendation. So, we need to first undertand the recommendation.

I am for it. Please get more people. We need to do both things.