Indian Railways asks officers to travel in trains during official tours, interact with passengers

In what comes as a welcome step, the Indian Railways has asked its general managers to make sure that their officers travel frequently by trains during official tours. The officials have also been asked to submit reports on the condition of coaches. The order was passed on to all the general managers of zonal railways through a letter. The letter written by Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav also asks the officers to interact more with the passengers. The letter says that the report should include pointers on quality of services on trains including bio-toilets and catering.

"All General Managers, DRMs and unit heads shall personally ensure that the officers working under them, frequently travel by train services in course of their official tours, inspect conditions coaches... A part of the inspection note of the officers must invariably contain a report on the condition of such facilities and quality of services on trains including bio-toilets and catering," it said.

The letter added that these steps will help Railways get a better insight on actual conditions on offer. "Travelling by train is an opportunity to gain first-hand insight on the actual conditions in respect to our services. This alone can provide us 'moments of truth' with our passengers and customers and equip us with invaluable knowledge to continuously innovate and improve our services," Yadav said in the letter dated June 13.

The Railway Board chairman also said the general managers should send him feedback that these instructions have been passed on to all officers. He has also instructed the department heads to take corrective action, wherever required, based on the inspection reports filed by these officials. 

Meanwhile, the Indian Railways on Monday signed an MoU to upgrade it on four sections. The Railway Ministry release said that the Indian Railways signed the MoU with RailTel Enterprises Ltd (REL), a wholly-owned subsidiary company of RailTel Corporation of India Ltd, for modernization of signalling system on four sections, which includes Automatic Train Protection System with Long Term Evolution (LTE) based Mobile Train Radio Communication System (MTRC), together with provision of Electronic Interlocking (indoor) wherever required.