Letter to the Railway Ministry

Dear Shri A K Mittal
Chairman & Ex-Officio Principal Secretary

Ministry of Railways

After a long time i have some hopes about rejuvenation in Railways.   There is lot of scope for improvement in many areas. I take this opportunity to list out few suggestions to improve the overall condition of railways and also to improve the systems:

Toilets:

The Toilets on all trains need to be changed at the earliest, if we are really serious about Cleanliness, Health & Hygiene in Trains / Stations and in the country. Please do not give this base less defensive argument that you do not have the money. If that was the case then how come we are talking about Bullet Trains? And still if you do not have money put a surcharge or cess on Railway tickets as per the class of travel for a period of say 2 years or 3 years. Review it and extend if required after coming out with a white paper about collection and actual spending, which can be challenged under RTI.

You can also plan a simpler and cheaper option for general and 3 tier compartments. Provide automatic door locking system which locks the doors of toilets for 5 kms before and after the stations. You can provide manual over ride from inside, in case someone is stuck up. Alternatively you can make provision to collect waste under the bogies with auto opening / closing of a suitable shutter plate which closes / opens before and after certain KMs from the station.

Train Reservation:

First and foremost the reservation lead period should be reduced from 4 months to two months. I do not think it is helping the real passengers any which way.

There should be a possibility for group booking. It is observed Most of the times that the group gets a scattered booking and thus they are never together.

Alternatively Railway can design compartments which can have two half compartments of 30 - 32 berths each for a 3 tier compartment and 20 - 22 berths for a 2 tier compartment. So at any time these could be assigned to 2 groups separatgely, or can be thrown open in case there is no group booking. The railway could charge extra money for such exclusive booking.

For on Line booking the railways should certainly come out with the option of seat / berth selection left to the passengers, much like it is available for air lines, Pvt Buses, Cinemas etc.

Railways should have a couple of 3 tier bogies and at least one bogie exclusively kept for quotas for various stations on route, and also for VIP quotas. Then it will be possible to implement the berth selection rights to the passengers.

For On - Line Bookings, Make it mandatory to provide any of the Photo IDs like the PAN Card Number / Voter ID / Adhar Card Number to avoid agents getting away with major bookings. In fact the system should demand the number and uploading of the card to have a better leak proof system. Keeping separate time slots might not be serving the intended purpose. For Off Line Bookings the booking clerk should ask for the ID proof and up load on the system. The ticket should also get print out of the id proof. Railways can consult some experts and come out with a foolproof solution.

Speed Of Existing Trains:

I would also like to request the ministry to first take up the task of increasing the speed of existing trains by about 30 % or so. It may call for some investments in improving the condition of railway lines. So be it. But that should be taken on pripority. The travel time can easily be reduced by an hour or two in a 600 - 800 kms travel.

Similarly Laying of 2 Lines on long distances should be taken on priority. Lot of time is wasted because of single line between many stations.

General:

Number of bogies should be increased by opting for a higher capacity / power engine. We may have to increase the platform length to ensure that the full train gets a platform.

Electrification should be completed on all major routes.

All Level Crossings should be replaced with flyovers or subways, as required.

Special 2 tier bogies should be designed and included on all major routes to suit senior citizens. The upper berth could be designed with a suitable ladder where senior citizens could climb easily. The  lower berths should be automatically assigned to citizens above certain age and the upper berths could be assigned to other senior citizens. A few berths should be designed and assigned to specially able persons. At Least one toilet in such compartments should also be designed accordingly.

The railway stations / platforms / special train compartment should also be designed to ensure that such specially able citizens are comfortable throughout the journey. 

Swatch Bharat - Kitna Swatch aaur Kitna Sach

They say "statistics don't lie, even though these may tell only half the truth ". So, it would have been really nice if the government had come out with some numbers showing the achievements against the targets on various factors such as:

Toilets:

Total number of schools, Number of Toilets planned in schools and toilets built?

How many schools, out of the above list, have segregated toilets for males - females?

How many of these and the old ones are in operation and how many of these do have water?

How many of these and the old ones are being regularly maintained?

Potable Drinking Water:

How many schools have safe drinking water facility?

How many schools have clean hand wash facility with toilet soaps - liquid soap?

General Hygiene:

How many schools have solid and liquid waste management systems?

How many schools are given a lime coat every two years at least?

Same set of Questions should be addressed for villages in the country, Tier I & Tier II towns - cities and also the urban cities.

Such a paper or a report card will clearly show the ground reality and also tell us if the government means business or not?

In fact I had written to the PMO about achieving this mammoth goal in set time line - that is 2 nd October of 2019. I had suggested then that every member of the Ruling Coalition should spend time and their allotted yearly MP fund only on these above mentioned swatch bharat activities. Seeing this either the other parties will also be forced to toe the line or they will fall apart and get exposed about their intentions.

I saw the swatch bharat awards ceremony initiated by the India Today Group. I would like to suggest the PM that he should ask the States rules by BJP and alliance groups to announce such schemes at Gram Pachayat - Municipal Corporation levels and interstate levels to recognize the efforts of citizens - corporates in following categories:

Swatch Village in at the Gram Panchayat Level

Swatch Village in the District

Swatch Village in the State

Swatch Tier I & Tier II towns & Cities

Swatch Municipal Corporation

Swatchtam Place in the State

Swatch Government Run School at each of the above levels

Swatch Private School at each of the above levels

Swatchtam School in the state

Swatchtam Tourist destination in the state

Swatchtam Historical Monument in the State

Swatchtam Bus Stand in the State

Swatchtam Railway Station in the State

Swatchtam State among the BJP - Alliance ruled States

We could add many more categories. Each Award should have a Prize Money of Rs. 1.0 Lac & a citation. Such winners should get more allocation of funds for development of roads - infrastructure in their area.

I am sure this will not only have a multiplier effect but will also spread awareness amongst the citizens certainly. This will also show to the nation that the BJP is a different party with a definite vision. The other states will be forced to follow these measures or fall by the way side and get exposed.

Reference Number is : PMOPG/E/2015/0119159