Facing flak for poor services, the new central government’s 100-day plan includes measures like quick refunds, crowd mitigation and curbing of unauthorised entry
The plan sees the introduction of Vande Bharat sleeper trains. File Pic/Satej Shinde
Bogged down by criticism, the government’s 100-day railway plan has included some aggressive passenger-centric measures, including 24-hour refunds, a live mega app and focus on passenger services. Sources said the government’s 100-day plan will focus on improving passenger services with a 24-hour ticket refund system instead of the existing three-day one. It also has a single-window mega app with live service updates, ticketing and refunds and introduction of more Amrit Bharat trains, along with the introduction of Vande Bharat sleeper trains.
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Besides the 100-day provisions, the Indian Railways on Wednesday also stressed on further course correction measures by implementing measures that were discussed at a meeting held by the top bosses, including railway board chairman, in May 2024. Railway officials have also been told to focus on crowding complaints, special drives to curb unauthorised entry of passengers in reserved coaches, attend to foot overbridges, flooded subways, work towards 100 per cent digitisation and overall improvement of passenger services.
The plan focuses on improving foot overbridges. File pic
“Pressure on passenger services has increased in the recent past. Consequently, the importance of punctuality, water availability, catering, cleanliness, and reduced waiting lists has also increased. In this regard, a concerted effort is required for ensuring that unauthorised passengers do not board the trains, adequate provisions for onboard services, watering, catering and cleaning and punctual running of trains,” said Jaya Verma Sinha, chairman and CEO of railway board. She said that trains with poor cleanliness, linen and those having on-board housekeeping issues should be monitored and improved in a targeted manner.
“Deficiencies observed during foot overbridge inspections should be rectified at the earliest. Subways which are prone to flooding should be examined and an action plan should be made for improvement before the rainy season,” Anil Kumar Khandelwal, member infrastructure said. Speaking about overall passenger experience and digitisation, Seema Kapoor, member operations and business development said, “The overall passenger demand is expected to rise to 10 billion by 2030. Passenger terminals should be planned to cater to this demand. All stations should have station facility maps at prominent locations which schematically show all the facilities.”
“100 per cent digital payments should be targeted by all zonal railways. The dark zones should be identified across zones and the same should be addressed on priority. With a move towards large-scale digitization by IR, protection against cyber- attacks and provisions of cyber crisis management plans should be made,” she added.
Viksit Bharat 2047
The Indian Railways’ agenda for ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ was also presented at the meeting. The key themes discussed include improvement in passenger services, world class trains, stations and freight services, adopting a corridor approach for infrastructure augmentation (concentrating and co-locating infrastructure investments in specific locations to create clusters). Five year (2024-29), one-year (2024-25) and 100 days' targets were also discussed on capacity building, passenger comfort and safety, higher safety standards, freight transportation and green initiatives.
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