HR policies of the Indian Railways
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Transcript of HR policies of the Indian Railways
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
HR POLICIES:
HR policies allow an organization to be clear with employees on:
The nature of the organization
What they should expect from the organization
What the organization expects of them.
How policies and procedures work.
What is acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
The consequences of unacceptable behavior
HR policies provide an organization with a mechanism to manage risk by staying up to date with
current trends in employment standards and legislation. The policies must be framed in a manner
that the companies vision & the human resource helping the company to achieve it or work
towards it are at all levels benefited and at the same time not deviated from their main objective.
Purposes
The establishment of policies can help an organization demonstrate, both internally and
externally, that it meets requirements for diversity, ethics and training as well as its commitments
in relation to regulation and corporate governance of its employees. For example, in order to
dismiss an employee in accordance with employment law requirements, amongst other
considerations, it will normally be necessary to meet provisions within employment contracts
and collective bargaining agreements. The establishment of an HR Policy which sets out
obligations, standards of behavior and document disciplinary procedures, is now the standard
approach to meeting these obligations.
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HR policies can also be very effective at supporting and building the desired organizational
culture. For example recruitment and retention policies might outline the way the organization
values a flexible workforce, compensation policies might support this by offering a 48/52 pay
option where employees can take an extra four weeks holidays per year and receive less pay
across the year.
INDIAN RAILWAYS:
From its first railway in 1853, the Indian Railways has grown to become Asia’s second largest
(after China) and the world’s third largest state-owned railway system. Indian Railways is
organized as a central government operation under the Indian Railway Board. Indian Railways
owns and operates its own electric-locomotive, diesel-locomotive, and passenger-coach factories.
It also operates one of the world’s largest railway research organizations. Railways operate both
long distance and suburban rail systems.
Indian Railways is the state-owned railway company of India. Indian Railways has a monopoly
on the country's rail transport. It is one of the largest and busiest rail networks in the world,
transporting just over six billion passengers and almost 750 million tonnes of freight annually. IR
is the world's largest commercial or utility employer, with more than 16 lakh employees.
The railways traverse through the length and width of the country; with its trains reaching every
nook and corner of the country. The routes cover a total length of 63,465 kms. Indian Railways
owns a total of 2, 22,379 wagons, 39,936 coaches and 7,910 locomotives and runs a total of
14,244 trains daily, including about 8,002 passenger trains. The total number of railway stations
in India sum up to 7,133.
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Key statistics for the Indian Railways
Plant and Equipment
Capital-at-charge Rs crore 59,347
Total investment Rs crore 98,490
Route length Kms 63,465
Running track Kms 84,260
Total track Kms 108,805
Locomotives Nos 7,910
Passenger service vehicles Nos 42,441
Other coaching vehicles Nos 5,822
Wagons Nos 222,379
Railway stations Nos 7,133
Operations
Passenger: Train kms Millions 517
Vehicle kms Millions 14,066
Freight: Train kms Millions 284
Vehicle kms Millions 31,365
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CHAPTER 2: INDIAN RAILWAY NETWORKS
CHAPTER 3: ORGANZIATION STRUTURE
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Organizational Structure
Indian Railways is a public-owned company controlled by the Government of India, via the
Ministry of Railways. The ministry is currently headed by Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Union
Minister for Railways and assisted by two junior Ministers of State for Railways, Mr. R. Velu
and Mr. Naranbhai J. Rathwa. Reporting to them is the Railway Board. The ministry is housed
inside the Rail Bhawan in New Delhi.
Railway Board
The railway board is headed by the cahirman, who has a team of six officers working directly
under him. Apart from this he also has two secretaries working under him, one looking after the
establishment related matters while the other looking after the administration related matters.
Currently this post is held by Mr. J.P. Batra. Given below is a list of officers working under the
chairman.
1. Mr. S.C. Gupta – Member electrical
2. Mr. K.C. Jena – Member staff
3. Mr. R.R. Jaruhar – Member engineering
4. Mr. R.K. Rao – Member mechanical
5. Mr. S.B. Ghosh Dastidar – Member traffic
6. Mr. R. Sivadasan – Finance Commissioner
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CHAPTER 4: INDIAN RAILWAY ZONES
The Indian Railways is divided into sixteen zones each headed by a General Manager (GM) who
reports directly to the Railway Board. The zones are further divided into divisions under the
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control of Divisional Railway Managers (DRM). The divisional officers of engineering,
mechanical, electrical, signal & telecommunication, accounts, personnel, operating, commercial
and safety branches report to the respective Divisional Manager and are in charge of operation
and maintenance of assets. Further down the hierarchy tree are the Station Masters who control
individual stations and the train movement through the track territory under their stations'
administration.
Production units
There are five production units (PUs) each headed by a General Manager (GM), who also report
directly to the Railway Board. These production units are:
1. Chittaranjan Locomotive Works : Chittaranjan
2. Diesel Locomotive Works : Varanasi
3. Integral Coach Factory : Perambur (Near Chennai)
4. Rail Coach Factory : Kapurthala
5. Rail Wheel Factory : Yelahanka (Near Bangalore)
Public Sector Undertakings
Apart from these zones and production units, a number of Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) are
under the administrative control of the ministry of railways. These PSU's are:
1. Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)
2. Konkan Railway Corporation (KRC)
3. Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC)
4. Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC)
5. Railtel Corporation of India – Telecommunication Networks
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6. RITES Ltd. – Consulting Division of Indian Railways
7. IRCON International Ltd. – Construction Division
8. Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL)
9. Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS)
Other units
Apart from the above mentioned units there are some more units which come directly under the
railway board.
1. North Frontier Railway (Construction) – Headed by a GM
2. Kolkata Metro Railway - Headed by a GM
3. Central Organization for Railway Electrification - Headed by a GM
4. Railway Staff College - Headed by Director General
5. RDSO - Headed by Director General and ex-officio GM
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CHAPTER 5 : FINANCIAL BACKGROUND
Financially, the Indian Railways was moving towards a debt trap. Between 1996 and 2001, its
net revenue receipts (NRR) crashed from Rs 4135 crore to Rs 1,071crore, a fall of 24 per cent
per annum. The fund balance at the end of 1999-00 had reached a low of Rs 149 crores. In what
can be described as its worst years, this period saw three ministers: Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan
(1996-98), Mr. Nitish Kumar (1998-99), Ms. Mamata Banerjee (2000). If the railways was a
listed firm, these worthies would have been on the next train out.
The market share of the railways in carrying freight fell from 89 per cent to 40 per cent between
1951 and 1996, and was expected to fall to 28 per cent by 2011. Its share of passenger traffic will
fall from 68 per cent to 6 per cent in the same period.
The worst falls came when Mr. Nitish Kumar and Ms. Mamata Banerjee were ministers. While
Mr. Nitish Kumar oversaw a fall of 29 per cent, Ms. Mamata Banerjee managed to lower it by
another 28 per cent. The very next year, Mr. Nitish Kumar, in his second term (2001-04) was
able to stem the fall and lowered it by just 6 per cent. Riding that success, Nitish, doubled the
NRR of Rs 4,479 Crore.
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CHAPTER 6: FAIL OF THE HR POLICIES:
Expert Group on Indian Railways/Rakesh Mohan Committee report
As per the report of Expert Group on Indian Railways (also called the Rakesh Mohan Committee
report), submitted in July 2001 (of which the author was a member) which studied the IR for
nearly two years, the Indian Railways considered to be heading towards bankruptcy. The report
stated:
“Today IR is on the verge of a financial crisis... To put it bluntly, the ‘business as usual low
growth’ will rapidly drive IR to fatal bankruptcy, and in sixteen years Government of India
will be saddled with an additional financial liability of over Rs 61,000 crores… On a pure
operating level, IR is in a terminal debt trap.”
Vision 2010 - R.K. Thoopal
In his report called “Vision 2010” submitted to the finance minister Mr. Yashwant Sinha, Mr.
R.K. Thoopal, Officer on Special Duty (OSD), West Central Railway said:
“As things stand to day, unless the central Government or the Indian railways change
their approach to financing and operation of the railway system, there is only darkness
ahead. The present course shall lead the Indian railways inexorably towards decay. The
process will be slow painful and extremely costly. The nation can hardly afford this.”
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CHAPTER 7: THE TURNAROUND
The Minister for Railways (MR), Mr Lalu Prasad, the Chairman and Members of the Railway
Board (RB) were reviewing investments for the XI Five Year Plan in mid July 2006. The total
investment being planned for the eight year time frame (2007-2015) was tentatively in the order
of Rs 350,000 crores. This was a significant increase from the planned Rs 60,000 crores (actual
expected to cross Rs 80,000 crores) in the X Plan period of 2002-07.
This confidence was a result of what the Indian Railways (IR) achieved, not only due to the
rising trend of performance, but also due to the significant growth in the past two years (2004-
06). The fund balances had crossed Rs 12,000 crores. These two years coincided with Mr Lalu
Prasad being at the helm of affairs of the IR, having moved into his position on 23 rd May, 2004.
Mr Lalu Prasad, in his opening remarks of the budget speech of 2006-07 on 24 th February 2006
had said, “Mr. Speaker Sir, I rise to present the Budget Estimates 2006-07 for the Indian
Railways at a point in time when, there has been a historical turnaround in the financial situation
of the Indian Railways.”
The fund balance at the end of 1999-00 had reached a low of Rs 149 crores, improving to Rs
5228 crores by the end of 2003-04 and over Rs 12,000 crores by the end of 2005-06. A 20 year
perspective since 1987-88 gives a bird’s eye view of the performance of IR, in terms of total
earnings, total working expenses, operating ratio and net revenues. The operating ratio (ratio of
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total working expenses (including depreciation and pension, but exclude dividend to GOI) to
total earnings) and net revenues (total earnings less total working expenses, adjusted with
miscellaneous transactions) had reached low levels of performance in 2000-01 (98.3%) and then
had consistently improved till 2005-06 (83.7%). To put this number in perspective, the Indian
Railways is India’s second highest profit maker, after ONGC’s Rs 15,143 crore.
The figures were however not strictly comparable. There had been a decrease in allocations to
the depreciation reserve fund during the late 1990s from over Rs 2000 crores to a low of Rs 1155
crores in 1998-99. This was followed by a gradual increase until 2004-05 to Rs 2700 crores. In
2005-06, the allocation jumped to Rs 3600 crores. Further, there was a change in accounting
practice in 2005-06 when Rs 1615 crores of lease charges to IRFC towards the principal amount
for wagon procurement had been shifted from working expenses to miscellaneous expenditure.
The operating ratio, for the sake of comparability with earlier years, would be 86.6%.
As a recognition of this ‘turnaround,’ some of the world’s biggest asset managers, investment
bankers and consultants including Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Mckinsey etc had
shown interest in working with IR.
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CHAPTER 9: PERFORMANCE OF THE HR POLICIES
The trend of IR’s total earnings and total working expenses are shown in Figure A and Figure B.
The good years were between 1993-94 to 1995-96, after which the expenses caught up with the
revenues until 2000-01, when the net revenue shrunk to a little over Rs 1000 crores. The
situation started improving steadily to reach an actual net revenue of just over Rs 8000 crores in
2005-06, for a total earnings of Rs 54,404 crores. This figure, collated after the financial year
ended 2005-06, has been a significant increased achievement over and above the budgeted and
revised estimates for the same year. The increase in net revenue is attributed significantly due to
better utilization of freight rolling stock.
The budgeted estimate for the year 2006-07, before the actuals for 2005-06 were collated, is total
earnings of nearly Rs 60,000 crores with a surplus of about Rs 7500 crores. The actuals are
expected to be at least 10% higher on earnings and 50% higher on the net revenue.
Total Earnings and Total Working Expenses
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0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
19 88 - 89 89 - 90 90 - 91 91 - 92 92 - 93 93 - 94 94 - 95 95 - 96 96 - 97 97 - 98 98 - 99 99 - 00 00 - 01 01 - 02 02 - 03 03 - 04 04 - 05 05 - 06 06 - 07
Rs
cr or e
Total Earnings Total Working Expenses
07 - 08
02468
101214161820222426
89-
90 90-
91
91-9
2
92-9
3 93 - 94 94-
95 95-
96 96-
97 97-
98 98-
99 99-
00 00 - 01 01-
02 02-
03 03 - 04 04-
05 05-
06 06-
07
Pe
re ce nt
Total Earnings Total Working Expenses
07 - 08
Growth Rate for Total Earnings and Total Working Expenses
[Source: MOR, Various Years-a; MOR, 2006-a]
Based on the ratio of total working expenses to total earnings, a parameter called the operating
ratio is assessed as a percentage. Figure C presents the operating ratio since 1987-88.
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92.0
89.5
87.4
82.5
86.2
90.9
93.3
98.3
96.0
83.8
92.193.1
84.3
91.0
92.393.3
82.682.9
91.592.5
80
82
84
86
88
90
92
94
96
98
100
19 88 - 89 89 - 90 90 - 91 91 - 92 92-
93 93 - 94 94-
95 95-
96
96-9
7 97-
98 98-
99 99 - 00 00-
01 01-
02
02-0
3 03 - 0404
-05 05-
06 06-
07 07-
08
Pe
rc en t
The operating ratio had reached a peak of 98.3 in 2000-01, reflecting a relatively poor
performance. After that, it had reduced year on year till 91.0 in 2004-05. It dropped sharply to
83.8 in 2005-06. (As stated above, this was both due to better utilization of rolling stock and
changes in accounting practice.)
The IR is targeting an improved operating ratio of 77 for 2006-07. This means that it aims to earn
Re 1 by spending 77 paise in 2006-07, against 83.8 paise in the last financial year [Business Line,
May 6, 2006]
Operating Ratio
The net revenue receipts are then appropriated for dividends payable to the government of India
and into various capital funds. Figure D gives the dividends paid out of the net revenues, including
when the payment was due to deferred dividends. As can be seen, the deferred dividend payments
have happened in the “good” years, which have followed the “bad” years when the IR would have
sought deferment of the dividend.
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723 737982 1,113
1,5411,955
3,102
3,8084,135
3,6253,024
2,1412,736
1,071
2,338
3,830
4,478
5,274
8,005
7,465
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
19 88 - 89 88 - 89 89 - 90 90 - 91 91 - 92 92 - 93 93 - 94 94 - 95 95 - 96 96 - 97 97 - 98 98 - 99 99 - 00 00 - 01 01 - 02 02 - 03 03 - 04 04 - 05 05 - 06 00 6- 07
)
Rs
cr or e
Deferred Dividend Current Dividend Excess/Shortfall
The deferred dividend liability from 1978-79 onwards aggregated to Rs 428.43 crore by end of
March, 1990. The amount was cleared by 1992-93. The dividend payable in 2000-01 and 2001-02
worked out to be Rs 2,131 crore and 2,337 crore respectively, out of which Rs 1823 crore and Rs
1000 crore respectively have been transferred to a deferred dividend liability account. This
amount is expected to be cleared by 2006-07.
Net Revenue Receipts
[Source: MOR, Various Years-a; MOR, 2006-a]
Analysis of performance
When we talk about the ‘turnaround,’ the first question that comes to our minds is “was it really
a turnaround?” An analysis of the performance of the Indian railways would answer this question
The total earnings in 2005-06 increased by Rs 7121 crores, a 15.0% growth with respect to 2004-
05. The total earnings in 2004-05 increased by Rs 4465 crores, a 10.4% growth with respect to
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2003-04. Similar figures for the earlier years since 2001-02 ranged between 4.5% and 8.5% with
respect to the previous year. The total working expenses plus the lease charges towards principal
payments in 2005-06 increased by Rs 4431 crores, a 10.4% rise with respect to 2004-05. The
total working expenses in 2004-05 increased by Rs 3277 crores, an 8.3% rise with respect to
2003-04. Similar figures for the earlier years since 2001-02 ranged between 3.8% and 4.8% with
respect to the previous year.
As a consequence of the total earnings and total working expenses, the net revenue reached a
record of Rs 8005 crores in 2005-06, following the Rs 5274 crores in 2004-05. This was a record
increase of Rs 2731 crores, reflecting a 52% increase in net revenues. Earlier, until 2004-05,
there had been a steady climb from the low of Rs 1071 crores in 2000-01. The internal
generation of cash surplus including provision for depreciation and Special Railway Safety Fund
(SRSF) reached an historic level of Rs.13,068 crores for 2005-06, following the Rs 7603 crores
in 2004-05.
The essence of the ‘turnaround’ was in the fact that:
(i) Total revenues increased by a significant percentage in the last two years.
(ii) The net revenues continued a robust upward trend.
This justified the principles that “freight business is a play on volumes,” and that “passenger
business is a play on volumes and quality” which were behind various focused initiatives
undertaken by the MR, and driven by the RB. Further, the initiatives were pursued in a manner
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that results could be obtained as quickly as possible, yet laying the foundation for continued
performance improvements.
An interesting aspect was that the total earnings in 2005-06 had gone up by a record Rs 3523
crores with respect to the budget estimates (BE) for the year. While this could raise questions
about the budgeting process, for the year 2005-06 it is more of a consequence of initiatives that
were put in place during the year, with results coming in the same year.
CHAPTER 10: THE INDIAN RAILWAYS HR POLICIES
Recruitment
The recruitment to the cadre is done through the Civil Services Examination. The first
recruitment to the cadre was done by UPSC in the year 1980.Prior to that some officers of sister
cadres had joined the service on option basis. The present advisors are from such groups. The list
of officers of this cadre can be seen in their web site.
The selection consisting of written and viva-voce test which is conducted by the Union Public
Service Commission (UPSC) of India along with other Group A Services
like IAS and IPS, IRS etc.
Role and Function
IRPS officers man the personnel department at Ministry, Zonal railway and divisional levels
including the railway production units and workshops. While other services in the railway are
concerned with the operational or material problems, the Personnel Service handles the human
resource aspect. Importance of the service lies in looking at the problem not only from the
government’s point of view but paying attention to the job oriented professional as well as
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personal needs of the employees as the effectiveness and efficiency of the administration mainly
depends on the nature of personnel it has.
The main functions and responsibility of Personnel Officers in the railway is to arrange
recruitment, training of staff, promotion, demotion, transfers, disciplinary actions, retirement,
settlement, selection etc. The personnel branch actually deals with the employee from the day he
joins the service or even before which is not over even on his retirement.
Dealing with provisions of various laws and acts such as Industrial dispute Act, Factory
Act, Workman Compensation Act, Payment of Wages, Minimum Wages and their
implementation in the railways is another responsibility. The interpretation of rules and
orders is also done in this branch.
All matters concerning the welfare of the staff such as provision of residential
accommodation, canteens, holiday homes, consumer societies, schools, clubs, institutes,
hospitals etc. also comes within its purview. Railway is one of the model employers with
a large number of welfare measures being implemented to look after the staff and their
families. Personnel officer is also the welfare officer in the railways.
Being responsible for the service, as well as personal issues of the employees, the
personnel department works in close coordination with all other departments in the
railways by functioning as consultant and adviser.
In a nutshell, most effective and efficient utilization of the vast human resource that railway have
is entrusted to this department.
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Organisation:
At the apex level of the Ministry of Railways,Government of India,the Railway Board Member
Staff is the highest level post, who also happens to be the Ex-officio Secretary to Government of
India.Currently he is assisted by two Additional members, additionsl member staff and additional
member i r ), who are in the rank of Additional Secretary.Below them are a group of Executive
Directors,Directors,Joint Directors and Deputy Directors who work at Railway Board level who
are either drawn from the service or from the railway board secretariat service.The present
Member Staff is a non-IRPS officer.
Similarly at the 16 Zonal Railway level the HR department or Personnel department as they call
in the railways, is headed by a Chief Personnel Officer or CPO.CPOs are also posted in the
major production units/factories of Indian Railways.The role of Personnel Branch as it is called
all over encompasses all those which are in any Human Resources Management department of
any organisation including those of dealing with Labour Relations and Labour Legislations.
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CHAPTER 10: Critical Appraisal of the Strategies
Freight
The strategy of higher volumes has done well for the railways. Increasing the axle load has been
a major driver for this. The focus on improving wagon turnaround has been a key support for
this. Apart from this relaxing of the examination norms for improving wagon turnaround has also
played a very important role.
The tariff strategy in the 90s had not recognised the market reality, especially as a consequence
of the liberalisation. Corrective strategies in terms of rationalisation of freight classes had begun
from 2002-03, with a reduction from 59 classes to 32 in one year. These strategies had continued
over the past two years, bringing down the number of classes to 18. More significantly, in the
past two years, the approach to freight tariffs had recognised the market scenario and price
elasticity of demand where in (i) IR has a competitive advantage in the generally ‘low rated’ bulk
raw materials and can afford higher rates and (ii) IR faces tough competition in the generally
‘high rated’ finished goods and cannot afford higher rates. Exhibits 2 and 4 provide perspectives
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on the tariff strategies and shares of major commodities. The net result has been an increase in
volumes and revenues, and more importantly an increase in market share. Cement, coal, and iron
and steel are examples. POL is a commodity where freight rates were reduced and there was gain
in lead. For an organisation, generally charged with losing market share, the ‘turnaround’ in
regaining market share especially in ‘high rated’ commodities is indeed commendable.
On the tariff strategy, it is important that the stance that tariffs have not been increased be
underplayed, since tariffs have actually been increased, and significantly so in the case of iron
ore, by reclassification. However, it would appear that the tariff increase had been “accepted” by
the customers, primarily because iron ore selling rates in the international markets had gone up
significantly (88.9% increase in 2004-05 with respect to 2003-04, and 23.5% increase in 2005-06
with respect to 2004-05 [Business Line, July 26, 2005 and FIMI, 2006]).
While the higher volumes and market oriented tariffs have increased revenues under the scenario
of economic growth, the issue of customer oriented strategy development is still in question. One
of the important lacunae in IR is its ability to listen to the customers. In spite of various
initiatives, the approach is essentially supply driven. While the important customers have
appreciated the recent initiatives in increasing IR’s traffic handling ability, they have been
unhappy with the unilateral approach. Concerns like changes in rates, demurrage free hours,
loadability of wagons, etc have been repeatedly voiced.
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CHAPTER 11: Problem Areas and Recommendations
Cleanliness:-
This is one area where the Indian Railways has always lagged behind. Even though the Indian
Railways is the third largest railways in the world, yet the cleanliness standard maintained by
them is very poor. The poor economic condition of the Indian Railways was often held
responsible for this, but even today, when the Indian Railways has reached an all time high level
of earnings the scenario hasn’t changed.
Reasons
The main reason for the poor standard of cleanliness and hygiene is that this job is performed by
multiple agencies.
The cleaning of the railway tracks is done by the Civil engineering department
The cleaning of the railway stations and on board cleaning is done by IRCTC.
The cleaning of the coaches is done by the mechanical department
Recommendations
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The job of cleaning should be completely taken over by the IRCTC which is a public sector unit
i.e. IRCTC should look after the cleaning of the railway stations, railway tracks, railway coaches
as well as the onboard cleaning. The IRCTC is currently looking after the cleaning of railway
stations and the onboard cleaning and has been doing a good job. Apart from this cleaning is
basically a routine maintenance job, hence it should be looked after by a body like the IRCTC
which is meant to look after routine maintenance jobs. In fact this would also enable the
mechanical and the civil engineering departments to focus of the primary jobs.
Parcel Business :-
A passenger train has 16 tons of capacity for carrying parcel. The IR has an annual parcel
carrying capacity of around 35 mt, of which the current utilization is 5 mt (14%). This generates
a revenue of about Rs 500 crore (Table A). The cost of haulage and parcel office staff is Rs 1800
crore. Thus, the parcel segment is making a loss of Rs 1300 crore per annum.
Reasons
The main reasons for poor performance in this sector is that working of this unit is highly
centralized. Even though the GM’s have been given the powers to fix up leases, they can do it
only if they get a bid which is 20% higher than the last year’s bid.
Recommendations
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The working of the parcel unit of the Indian Railways should be decentralized to some extent.
The GM’s should be given more powers. In addition to this the DRM’s should also be given
powers of fixing up leases.
Earnings from Advertisements :-
Even though the earnings from advertisements has increased drastically over the last two years
yet there is a lot of untapped potential in this field, especially in the sub-urban sector.
Reasons
This is a media related sector and can be managed best by media professionals, while the Indian
Railways lacks the presence of media professionals.
Recommendations
The Indian Railways should hire a media resource agency which offers it a complete media
solution.
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CHAPTER 13: CONCULSION
The turnaround of the Indian Railways has come at a time when it was needed the most. It has
come at a time when the Indian Railways was heading towards a complete bankruptcy and was
declared by experts as an organization whose survival was under threat.
In the last two years there has been an overall improvement in the performance of the Indian
Railways. A very professional approach on the part of the Railway Minister, the Railway Board
and employees of the Indian Railways has enabled the Indian Railways attain this feat.
The most remarkable thing about this turnaround has been that the same officers, staff, gangmen
etc. who have been working in this organization for years and have always been a part of this
loss making organization are the ones who have brought about this magical turnaround.
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The fact that there have been no increase in the passenger fares and the freight charges yet the
Indian Railways has managed to an all time high level of performance is really commendable. In
addition to this the Indian Railways has not discontinued or modified any discount/rebate offered
to senior citizens, students, freedom fighters, defense personnel etc as a part of its social
responsibility activity.
When Laloo Ji took over, the Indian Railways was a loss-making organization. The Rakesh
Mohan Committee (headed by Rakesh Mohan, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs) had
termed it a 'white elephant' and predicted that it was destined to hit Rs 61,000 crore (Rs 610
billion) in bankruptcy by 2015.
BIBILOGRAPHY:
BOOKS:
Human Human Resource Management (9th Edition) by Gary Dessler
Managing Human Resources by George W. Bohlander, Scott A. Snell, Hardcover
Human Resources Management by Wendell L. French
SITES:
www.irctc.co.in
google.com
wikipedia.com
indianrailwys.in
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