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.