Case of INDIAN RAILWAYS                                                 

 

Indian Railways has become 150 years old.  Indian Railways(IR)  are the largest rail network in Asia and the world’s second largest under one management. Criss-crossing the country’s vast geographical spread, Indian Railways are a multi-gauge, multi-traction system covering over 1 lakh track kilometres,300 yards, 2300 goodsheds and 700 repair shops. Its rolling stock fleet includes 8300 locomotives, 39,000 coaching vehicles and 3.5 lakh freight wagons. Its work force is 1.65 million and it runs some 11,000 trains everyday, including 7,000 passenger trains. Freight traffic on Indian Railways has registered an impressive growth in the last four decades. Increase in the last few years have been particularly striking. From a mere 93 million tonnes of originating freight traffic in 1950-51, Railways carried nearly 376 million tonnes in 1992-93, an increase of 304%. This has been despite the ever increasing pressure of passenger traffic which increased during the same period from 1.28 billion passengers carried to 4.2 billion , to make an Indian Railways (IR) a leading passenger carrying railway in the world.  The size and complexity of their operations, growing traffic and changing technologies, placed inevitably a heavy burden on  system. Need for its modernization was therefore felt for sometime.

 

 

Table IR.1: TQM Concepts

QFD

Effective Human Resource Management

ISO 9000 : 2000

P-A-F  Model for Quality Costs

Customer Feedback System

Re-engineering & Benchmarking

Questions on the above case

IR has hired you as a consultant having expertise in TQM. Prepare a report for IR highlighting application of any TWO concepts given in Table IR.1 These concepts may be applicable to any of the following domains: Railway Head Quarters, At Railway Station, Integral Coach Factory (manufacturing plant) , Railway Information System, Railway Catering Services  etc.

Your report must contain the following:

a)       Need for Implementing TQM and  definition of quality in your view for the domain selected by you

b)       Vision and Mission statement in your view for the domain selected

c)       Justification for and Application of TWO concepts from Table IR.1 (please be specific as how these concepts are to be APPLIED.)

d)       Recommendations and Action Plan (Please write recommendations which can be immediately implemented, recommendations which will take some time, and long term recommendations)

e)       Guidelines for implementation and realistic time frame

f)        Any barriers for implementation and ways to overcome these.

 

 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

It is a well known fact that the current scenario of the services provided by the Indian Railways have become unsatisfactory for the passengers who travels through railways.

About 92 percent of the railway passengers travel without reservation in unreserved coaches in trains in the country.  Our project mainly focus to help these railway passengers. There are so many problems which the passengers face each & every day while having their journey through the trains. In this project, first of all, we are going to give the brief introduction of the various problems and trying to relate these with the facts till the financial year. After that, we are taking a single problem in deep and trying to give most feasible & optimal solution for that problem.

 

Indian Railways (IR) is the state-owned railway company of India. Indian Railways has a monopoly on the country's rail transport. It is also one of the largest and busiest rail networks in the world, transporting just under five billion passengers and almost 350 million tonnes of freight annually. IR is the world's largest commercial or utility employer, with more than 1.6 million employees. The railways traverse through the length and width of the country covering a total length of 63,940 km (39,230 miles). As of 2005 IR owns a total of 216,717 wagons, 39,936 coaches and 7,339 locomotives and runs a total of 14,244 trains daily, including about 8,002 passenger trains.

 

Railway zones

For administrative purposes, Indian Railways is divided into sixteen zones .

 

No.	Name	Abbr.	Headquarters
1.	Northern Railway	NR	Delhi
2.	North Eastern Railway	NER	Gorakhpur
3.	Northeast Frontier Railway	NFR	Guwahati
4.	Eastern Railway	ER	Kolkata
5.	South Eastern Railway	SER	Kolkata
6.	South Central Railway	SCR	Secunderabad
7.	Southern Railway	SR	Chennai
8.	Central Railway	CR	Mumbai
9.	Western Railway	WR	Mumbai
10.	South Western Railway	SWR	Hubli
11.	North Western Railway	NWR	Jaipur
12.	West Central Railway	WCR	Jabalpur
13.	North Central Railway	NCR	Allahabad
14.	South East Central Railway	SECR	Bilaspur, CG
15.	East Coast Railway	ECoR	Bhubaneswar
16.	East Central Railway	ECR	Hajipur
17.	Konkan Railway†	KR	Navi Mumbai

 

MOTIVATION

Till now no substantial measures have been implemented to improve the problem of overcrowding in this field. The aim of our study is to

·         Identify reasons for the neglect under the TQM perspective

·         Guided by the TQM approach, recommend strategies to eliminate occurrences of huge rush in trains.

·         Most of the people are facing this problem of over crowding i.e. around 92% passengers travel in unreserved coaches .

·         Also motivated by suburban trains and metro trains that runs in intra city.

 

CURRENT PROBLEMS IN INDIAN RAILWAY

Overcrowding

Overcrowding is a big issue, with the General compartment often being packed beyond capacity. During the holiday seasons, reserved tickets have to be booked two months in advance, to avoid a generally static waiting list. During this season the reserved compartments are swamped by many without a reserved ticket. Railway ticket prices are particularly affected by the fact that India in general is a price-sensitive market. As a public utility, the government subsidises the prices as increasing ticket prices often translates into widespread discontent and most often political damage. This therefore imposes a strong constraint on the pace at which Indian railways can expand or modernize itself.

Accidents

The main problem plaguing the Railways is the high accident rate which stands at about three hundred a year. Although accidents such as derailment and collisions are less common in recent times, many are run over by trains, especially in crowded areas. Human error is the primary cause (83%) blamed for mishaps. The Konkan Railway route suffers from landslides in the monsoon season, which has caused fatal accidents in the recent past. Contributing to the Railways' problems are the antiquated communication, safety equipment and signalling systems. Aging colonial-era bridges and century-old tracks also require regular maintenance and upgrading.

 

 

Level crossings and fencing

In many places, pedestrians, vehicles or cyclists may cut across the tracks to save time, causing a safety hazard to the railways. Reasons given are that suitable bridges or level crossings over the tracks are non-existent or inconveniently placed. Most railway land in India is not fenced or restricted in any way, allowing free trespass. In rural areas, cattle and other animals may stray onto the tracks, posing a much more serious safety hazard to fast-moving trains.

Sanitation

Sanitation is a significant problem on Indian Railways. Due to the size of the network and low speeds, journeys can last many days. The toilets on Indian Railways trains are of the direct-vent type (i.e. a hole in the floor), without any effluent storage tanks on board. This causes an accumulation of human waste on the tracks in places where the train stands still, such as in large stations. Due to the number of users, the toilets are often in bad condition. Indian Railways is currently considering Eco-san toilets for its trains. This may become a catalyst for better and more environmentally friendly sanitation in the country.

WORK PLAN

Facts and figures collected from:

1.      Manual book of indian railway

2.      Survey of real life problem faced by the railway passengers.

3.      Highlight of  Railway Budget 2004-05

4.      Frontline magazine online, Amulya Gopalakrishnan, Volume 20–Issue 15, July 19– August 01, 2003

5.      Indian Railways Site

Application of TQM perspective for giving the solutions to overcome the crowding of passengers. And the final conclusion of all perspective .

LAYOUT OF A SAMPLE DESIGN :

 

 

PROBLEM STATEMENT AND SOLUTIONS

The major problem that passenger faces is of overcrowding in trains. This is the root cause of many other problems arising in the Indian Railways in one way or the other.  As we have stated earlier 92% passenger travels in unreserved coaches so we have to design system for overcoming the above mentioned problem . For that we need to stress upon the following points:

Frequency of  trains :To Improve the availability of train we have to increase the number of trains between the two stations that are 200 to 300 KM apart , which hardly takes 3 hrs to cover the journey. We can run trains in every 1 hr so availability can be improved. These trains run on EMV model .

Huge rush / capacity of train :To reduce the rush we have to design coaches in such a manner that maximum utilisation of available space can be done.

1.      Use of chair-car coaches instead of sleeper .

2.      Some coaches should have space for standing only.

3.      Sideways of coaches should be designed for more capacity of luggage.

2.       Comfort  and User-friendly :

Passengers should be provided with facilities to enhance their comfort .For that we need to keep in mind the below mentioned  points :

1.       Seats should be comfortable and spacious.

2.       Hangers for standing people should be of comfortable material .

3.       Proper announcement for required information as upcoming stations.

4.       Automatic doors to avoid accidents.

5.       Proper availability of light  and air .

6.       Some seats are provided for Handicapped persons .

 

Perspective I :  Poka Yoke

In implementing the above mention design to reduce overcrowding, there arise the problem of waiting means the passengers will have to wait for long at various sub stations to reach their final destination. To overcome this problem we need to introduce proper networking or communication so that the corresponding train leave the station after all the passengers coming from previous station. that means there should be a regular sequence of trains connecting the bigger junctions.

 

·         Number of passengers traveling through trains  may vary that means there are uneven distribution of passenger for a particular period like at the time of certain occasions ,there is a huge rush .To overcome this imbalance we can make flexibility in adding and removing number of coaches according to our need  or By increasing and decreasing the frequency of trains. In that particular loop . this can  be effectively  managed by  adopting 7 quality control tools especially CONTROL CHART ,which will tell about our requirement in advance. 

·        Satisfaction of users is also a very important point which we should keep in mind while designing the coaches . The can be very well done by making the surveys so that users needs can be easily identified and applied in design with proper modifications.so that interaction between users and Indian railway should be positive.

·        Doors should open only while reaching the platform so that no one can hurt or slip down to track.Also they should open only in direction of platform for the ease of  passengers.

·        Design of coach should be such that the gap between the platform and train wall should be minimum so that fatal accidents can be avoided .

Perspective II : 5S Housekeeping

·         Sort: First “S” suggests separating one type of bodies from the other. In the context of above problem, separation of the Long distance Sleeper trains with Small distance EMV Based trains can be done to overcome the problems faced by passengers having long journey. Also we can do sorting of space in coach by separating sitting with standing passengers.

 

·         Systematize: Second “S” suggests to neatly arranging things. There should be proper sign boards to guide the passengers. Sometimes people suddenly stop in the way to ask because they may get confused about seat number, luggage area , toilet etc .This can be avoided by providing the proper sign boards. All the information should be well mentioned or announced in easily understandable language to all the passengers.

 

·         Sweep: Third “S” suggest us to keep the area neat and clean. Coaches,sanitation and platform should  be neat and clean. There should not be any obstacles in the way, sometimes people commit accidents because they were just trying to avoid that obstacle. Unchecked hurdles like luggage can be a cause of the accident.

 

·         Standardize: Fourth “S” suggest us to conduct Sort, Simplify, and Scrub at frequent, indeed daily, intervals to maintain a workplace in perfect condition. For the problem of Keeping coaches neat and clean, daily maintenance. Standardize means, some task and rule that should be followed regularly i.e. trains should be clean daily; there should be a speed limit according to the vehicle. Over crowding of the trains must be condemned. 

 

·         Sign board declaring “accident prone zone “must be put up at the junctions to slow them down.

 

·         Self Discipline: Fifth “S” suggest us to form the habit of always following the first four Ss. Railway management should feel their moral responsibility to minimize the no of accidents in the trains. Passengers should also follow the rules and standard of Indian railway. Also passenger should sit on proper place where provided .Take cake of railway property.

 

CONSOLIDATION OF TQM PERSPECTIVES

 

The consolidation and the implementation of the above solutions discussed in the two perspectives, use The Deming Wheel (P-D-C-A Cycle).

 

 

 

PLAN: Management and officials of Indian Railway should constructive discussion on the two perspectives and identify the problem indicated by us. and plan for the implementation of suggested solutions. And design the system according to passengers. 

DO: With the help of Expert team and management the solutions should  be implanted and tested also got survey of the plan.

STUDY / CHECK: According to our survey we can know that plan is feasible or not.If not so then we should rethink , review and modify the plan .Passenger satisfaction should count for success of our plan.

ACT :Regular check and surveys should be there to get the proper feedback from the passengers. Modifications should be done at regular intervals.

CONCLUSION

By Implementing above design we can overcome the problem of overcrowding in the trains .also passenger feel comfort and satisfaction according to there needs. Moreover the frequency of trains can also be increased at reasonable cost .It also saves the time of passengers.

REFERENCES

Manual book of indian railway

Survey of real life problem faced by the railway passengers.

Highlight of  Railway Budget 2004-05

Frontline magazine online, Amulya Gopalakrishnan, Volume 20–Issue 15, July 19– August 01, 2003

Indian Railways Online Official site

Freight Trains. Indian Railways Fan Club. URL accessed on June 19, 2005.

IR History: Early Day. Indian Railways Fan Club. URL accessed on June 19, 2005