Submitted By:

Under the Guidance of

School of Management Studies,

Motilal Nehru National Institute of

Technology,

Allahabad

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Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1

History ................................................................................................................................................. 2

Railway Zones ...................................................................................................................................... 5

Passenger Services ............................................................................................................................. 13

Freight ............................................................................................................................................... 15

Honours and Awards ......................................................................................................................... 16

Factual Information .............................................................................................................................. 17

Observations......................................................................................................................................... 35

Suggestions by respondents .............................................................................................................. 37

Limitations ............................................................................................................................................ 38

List of graphs ........................................................................................................................................ 39

References ............................................................................................................................................ 41

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INTRODUCTION-A Brief Profile of IR

Indian Railways (IR), is a Department of the Government of India, under the Ministry of Railways, and is tasked with operating the rail network in India. The Ministry is headed by a cabinet rank Railways Minister, while the Department is managed by the Railway Board. Indian Railways is not a private corporate body; however, of late IR has adopted a corporate management style.

Indian Railways has a total state monopoly on India's rail transport. It is one of the largest and busiest rail networks in the world, transporting sixteen million passengers and more than one million tonnes of freight daily. IR is the world's largest commercial or utility employer, with more than 1.6 million employees.

The railways traverse the length and breadth of the country; the routes cover a total length of 63,465 km (39,435 miles). As of 2005, IR owned a total of 222,379 wagons, 42,125 coaches and 7910 locomotives and ran a total of 14,444 trains daily, including about 8,702 passenger trains.

Railways were first introduced to India in 1853. By 1947, the year of India's independence, there were forty-two rail systems. In 1951 the systems were nationalized as one unit, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. Indian Railways operates both long distance and suburban rail systems.

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HISTORY

A plan for a rail system in India was first put forward in 1832, but no further steps were taken for more than a decade. In 1844, the Governor-General of India Lord Hardinge allowed private entrepreneurs to set up a rail system in India. Two new railway companies were created and the East India Company was asked to assist them. Interest from investors in the UK led to the rapid creation of a rail system over the next few years. The first train in India became operational on 22 December 1851, and was used for the hauling of construction material in Roorkee. A year and a half later, on 16 April 1853, the first passenger train service was inaugurated between Bori Bunder, Bombay and Thane. Covering a distance of 34 km (21 miles), it was hauled by three locomotives, Sahib, Sindh and Sultan. This was the formal birth of railways in India.

The British government encouraged new railway companies backed by private investors under a scheme that would guarantee an annual return of five percent during the initial years of operation. Once established, the company would be transferred to the government, with the original company retaining operational control. By 1875, about £95 million were invested by British companies in Indian guaranteed railways. The route mileage of this network was about 14,500 km (9,000 miles) by 1880, mostly radiating inward from the three major port cities of Bombay (Mumbai), Madras (Chennai) and Calcutta (Kolkata). By 1895, India had started building its own locomotives, and in 1896 sent engineers and locomotives to help build the Uganda Railway. Soon various independent kingdoms built their own rail systems and the network spread to the regions that became the modern-day states of Assam, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. A Railway Board was constituted in 1901, but decision-making power was retained by the Viceroy, Lord Curzon. The Railway Board operated under aegis of the Department of Commerce and Industry and had three members: a government railway official serving as chairman, a railway manager from England and an agent of one of the company railways. For the first time in its history, the Railways began to make a tidy profit. In 1907, almost all the rail companies were taken over by the government.

The following year, the first electric locomotive appeared. With the arrival of the First World War, the railways were used to meet the needs of the British outside India. By the end of the First World War, the railways had suffered immensely and were in a poor state. The government took over the management of the Railways and removed the link between the financing of the Railways and other governmental revenues in 1920, a practice that continues to date with a separate railway budget. The Second World War severely crippled the railways as rolling stock was diverted to the Middle East, and the railway workshops were converted into munitions workshops. At the time of independence in 1947, about 40 per cent of the railways then went to the newly independent republic of Pakistan. A total of forty-two separate railway systems, including thirty-two lines owned by the former Indian princely states, were amalgamated as a single unit which was christened as the Indian Railways.

The existing rail networks were abandoned in favour of zones in 1951 and a total of six zones came into being in 1952. As the economy of India improved, almost all railway production units were indigenised. By 1985, steam locomotives were phased out in favour of diesel and electric locomotives. The entire railway reservation system was streamlined with computerisation in 1995.

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RAILWAY ZONES

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

Sl.

No Name Abbr.

Date

Established Headquarters Divisions

1. Northern

Railway NR

April 14,

1952 Delhi

Ambala, Firozpur, Lucknow,

Moradabad

2. North Eastern

Railway NER 1952 Gorakhpur Izzatnagar, Lucknow, Varanasi

3.

Northeast

Frontier

Railway

NFR 1958 Guwahati Alipurduar, Katihar, Lumding,

Rangia, Tinsukia

4. Eastern

Railway ER April, 1952 Kolkata Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol, Malda

5. South Eastern

Railway SER 1955 Kolkata

Adra, Chakradharpur, Kharagpur,

Ranchi

6. South Central

Railway

SCR October 2,

1966 Secunderabad

Secunderabad, Hyderabad,

Guntakal, Guntur, Nanded,

Vijayawada

7. Southern

Railway

SR April 14,

1951 Chennai

Chennai, Madurai, Palghat,

Tiruchchirapalli, Trivandrum,

Salem (Coimbatore)

8. Central

CR November 5,

Mumbai

Mumbai, Bhusawal, Pune,

6

Railway 1951 Solapur, Nagpur

9. Western

Railway

WR November 5,

1951 Mumbai

Mumbai Central, Baroda, Ratlam,

Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Bhavnagar

10. South Western

Railway

SWR April 1, 2003 Hubli Hubli, Bangalore, Mysore

11. North Western

Railway

NWR October 1,

2002 Jaipur Jaipur, Ajmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur

12. West Central

Railway

WCR April 1, 2003 Jabalpur Jabalpur, Bhopal, Kota

13. North Central

Railway

NCR April 1, 2003 Allahabad Allahabad, Agra, Jhansi

14.

South East

Central

Railway

SECR April 1, 2003 Bilaspur, CG Bilaspur, Raipur, Nagpur

15. East Coast

Railway ECoR April 1, 2003 Bhubaneswar

Khurda Road, Sambalpur,

Visakhapatnam

16. East Central

Railway

ECR October 1,

2002 Hajipur

Danapur, Dhanbad, Mughalsarai,

Samastipur, Sonpur

17. Konkan

Railway† KR

January 26,

1998 Navi Mumbai None

Konkan Railway (KR) is constituted as a separately incorporated railway, with its headquarters

at Belapur CBD (Navi Mumbai). It comes under the control of the Railway Ministry and the

Railway Board.

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The Calcutta Metro is owned and operated by Indian Railways, but is not a part of any of the

zones. It is administratively considered to have the status of a zonal railway. Each zonal railway

is made up of a certain number of divisions, each having a divisional headquarters. There are a

total of sixty-seven divisions.

Northern Railway (India)

The Northern Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered in Delhi

and comprises Delhi, Ferozpur, Ambala, Lucknow and Moradabad divisions. It is one of nine old

zones of Indian Railways and has the largest route kilometers of track (6807 km) under its

jurisdiction even after the reorganization of the railways into the new zonal structure. It was

created on 14 April 1952 from the Jodhpur Railway, Bikaner Railway, three divisions of the East

Indian Railway north-west of Mughalsarai, and the Eastern Punjab Railway. It covers the states

of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi

and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Eastern Railway (India)

Eastern Railway is a zone of the Indian Railways. Its headquarter is at Fairley Place, Kolkata and it comprises Howrah, Malda, Sealdah, and Asansol divisions. The name of the divisions denotes the name of the city where the divisional headquarter is located.In 2002 a new zone East Central Railway was created comprising Eastern Railway's Danapur, Dhanbad and Mughalsarai divisions.

Central Railway (India)

The Central Railway is one of the largest of the 16 zones of Indian Railways. Its headquarters is in Mumbai at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus). It includes the first passenger railway line in India, which opened from Bombay to Thane on April 16, 1853.

Some major cities in the Central Railway zone are: Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Solapur, Bhusawal

The railway covers a large part of the state of Maharashtra and parts of North-Eastern Karnataka and Southern Madhya Pradesh. It is organized into five divisions: Mumbai CST, Bhusawal, Nagpur, Solapur and Pune.The railway was formed on November 5, 1951 by grouping several government-owned railways, including the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, and the Scindia State Railway of the former princely state of Gwalior.

The Central Railway zone formerly included northern Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states and part of southern Uttar Pradesh, which made it the largest railway zone in India in terms of area, track mileage and staff. These areas became the new West Central Railway zone in April 2003.

Western Railway (India)

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The Western Railway is one of the 16 zones of Indian Railways, and is among the busiest railway networks in India. Major railway lines of which Indian Railways which come under Western Railways are: Ratlam - Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad - Vadodara and Palanpur - Ahmedabad.

Southern Railway (India)

Southern Railway is the first Railway Zone to be created in independent India. It was created on April 14, 1951 by merging three state railways namely Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway, and the Mysore State Railway. The South Indian Railway was originally created in the British colonial times as Great Southern India Railway Co. founded in Britain in 1853 and registered in 1859. Its original headquarters was in Tiruchirappalli and was registered as a company in London only in 1890.

For better administrative control and improved development and operational reasons, Railway

Board approved creation of new Railway Division with Salem as headquarters in 2005 to

improve railway infrastructure, facilities (lacking since several decades) and introduce better

train services thus satisfying the long felt needs to railway passengers in and around surrounding

areas, thus providing better conveniences to the railway traveller. The highest revenue yielding

Coimbatore and tiruppur are now included in salem division. Now it is 4th largest of all the

six.Southern Railway divisions, and carved out of Palakkad and Tiruchirapalli divisions. A large

section of this railway was in Meter Gauge, compared to most of Indian Railway being in Broad

Gauge. The main improvements currently in this railway are to convert all tracks to Broad

Gauge, improvement of stations, platform covering, better catering stalls, and an automated

signal system to avoid accidents. The single Chennai Central station handles a million passengers

every day. Five stations, Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Palghat and Thiruvanathapuram are

scheduled for upgrading in 2007.

East Central Railway

The East Central Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered at

Hajipur and comprises Sonpur and Samastipur divisions of North Eastern Railway and Danapur,

Mughalsarai, and Dhanbad divisions of Eastern Railway. Currently the railway is headed by

K.C. Jena

East Coast Railway

East Coast Railway (ECoR) is one of the sixteen railway zones of Indian Railways came into

existence since 1 April 2003.The geographical jurisdiction of this railway zone extends over

three states encompressing almost all parts of Orissa along with parts of Srikakulam,

Vizainagaram and Visakhapatnam districts of North Eastern Andhra Pradesh, and Bastar and

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Dantewada districts of Chhatisgarh State.Bhubaneswar in Orissa is the zonal headquarters.There

are Khurda Road, Sambalpur and Waltair divisions in East Coast Railway.

Konkan Railway

The Konkan Railway (Railway Symbol:KR) is a company of the Indian Railways which

operates along the Konkan coast of India.

Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd.

Type Public Limited

Founded July 19, 1990

Headquarters Navi Mumbai

Area served Indian states of Maharashtra, Goa and

Karnataka

Industry Railways

Parent Indian Railways

Website Konkan Railway

Important Trains on the Konkan Railway

Dadar (Mumbai) - Madgaon Janshatabdi Express (2051 Dn/2052 Up) - the fastest of them all

Thiruvananthapuram - Hazrat Nizamuddin (Delhi) Rajdhani Express (2431 Up/2432 Dn) Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (Mumbai) - Mangalore Matsyaganda Express (2619 Dn/2620

Up) Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Mumbai)-Madgaon Konkankanya Express (KR 0111 Dn/

KR 0112 Up)

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Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Mumbai)-Madgaon Mandovi Express (KR 0103 Dn/ KR 0104 Up)

Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (Mumbai) - Thiruvananthapuram Netravati Express (6345 Dn/6346 Up)

Ernakulam Jn - Hazrat Nizamuddin (Delhi) - Mangala Lakshadweep Express (2617 Up/2618 Dn)

Jaipur - Ernakulam Jn Marusagar Express (2977 Up/2978 Dn) Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (Mumbai) - Kochuveli (Kerala) Garib Rath Express

(2201/2202)

North Central Railway

The North Central Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered at

Allahabad and comprises reorganized Allahabad division of Northern Railway, Jhansi division of

Central Railway, and new Agra division.

North Western Railway

The North Western Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered at

Jaipur and comprises Jodhpur division and reorganized Bikaner division of Northern Railway,

and reorganized Jaipur and Ajmer divisions of Western Railway.

Northeast Frontier Railway

The North Eastern Railway was created during the reorganisation of the Indian Railways system

in 1952 by amalgamating the Assam Railway and Avadh-Tirhut Railway. To better serve the

needs of the northeastern states, the Northeast Frontier Railway, NFR, was carved out of the

North Eastern Railway in 1958. Head quartered in Maligaon, Guwahati, the capital of the state of

Assam it is responsible for rail operations in the entire Northeast and parts of West Bengal and

Bihar. It is divided into 5 divisions:

Tinsukia

Lumding

Rangiya

Alipurdaur

Katihar

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The area of Northeast Frontier Railways operations is characterized by exceptional beauty and at

the same time by some of the most arduous terrain. This difficult terrain limits the rail network

expansion, and the only state with a decent rail network is Assam. The network is not broad

gauge in many parts and the rail lines are antiquated with speeds at some sections being limited

to a maximum of 30 km/h. Before the Saraighat Bridge was constructed, you had to get down on

the Amingaon side of the Brahmaputra and take a ferry across to Pandu Junction from where you

could resume your journey.

South Central Railway

The South Central Railway is one of the 16 railway zones in India. It is headquartered at

Secunderabad and has the following divisions: Reorganized Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Guntakal

(including Bellary-Guntakal (MG)), Vijayawada, Guntur and Nanded. Areawise it covers

Telangana, Rayalaseema and Coastal parts in state of Andhra Pradesh and also parts of

Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

South East Central Railway

The South East Central Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered

at Bilaspur and comprises Nagpur division, reorganized Bilaspur division of South Eastern

Railway and new Raipur division. This zone was the part of South Eastern Railway. Inaugurated

on 20 September 1998 and dedicated to nation on 5 April 2003.

South Eastern Railway

The South Eastern Railway is one of the sixteen railway zones in India. It is headquartered at

Garden Reach, Kolkata and comprises Kharagpur division. It reorganized Adra and

Chakradharpur divisions and the new Ranchi division.

South Western Railway

The South Western Railway is one of the 16 railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Hubli

and comprises Bangalore and Mysore divisions of Southern Railway, reorganized Hubli division

of South Central Railway including Hospet-Bellary. Important trains operated by this division

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are the Karnataka Express (Bangalore - New Delhi), the Lalbagh Express (Bangalore - Chennai),

the Udayan Express (Bangalore - Mumbai) and the Shatabdi Express (Bangalore - Chennai).

West Central Railway

The West Central Railway is one of the 16 zones of Indian Railways, created in April 2003. It

was also a private railway company of former British India, which was later nationalized.

The former West Central Railway (WCR) was founded in British India in 1924. It began

transporting military goods for the British armed forces in 1928, when the railway from Bombay

(now Mumbai) to Poona was finished. In the late 1930s, the "Indian Railway of Bombay" started

passenger transportation, but as war began, these efforts were suspended. The private company

was taken over by the Royal Army in 1940.

The "Railway of Bombay" did not restart its business until India became independent in 1947.

On November 5, 1951, it was split into the Western Railway (WR) and Central Railway (CR). In

the late 1960s three other railway lines were built, leaving Bombay in

different directions, reaching Ahmadabad in the North, Nagpur in the East, and Hyderabad in the

southeast.

The Western Railway is headquartered in Bombay Central and the Central Railway in

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, formerly Victoria Terminus. The CR is the largest Indian rail

network in terms of passenger load. Both the services run suburban rail services in Bombay.

In April 2003, the West Central Railway was reconstituted from the Jabalpur and Bhopal

divisions of CR and the reorganized Kota division of WR. It is headquartered at Jabalpur. The

new West Central Railway serves northern Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states, southern

Uttar Pradesh state, and northwestern Rajasthan state. It includes portions of the former Indian

Midland Railway and the Gwalior state railways.

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Passenger services

Indian Railways operates 8,702 passenger trains and transports 15 million daily across twenty-

eight states and three union territories (Delhi, Puducherry (formerly Pondicherry) and

Chandigarh). Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya are the only states not connected.

The passenger division is the most preferred form of long distance transport in most of the

country.

A standard passenger train consists of eighteen coaches, but some popular trains can have up to

24 coaches. Coaches are designed to accommodate anywhere from 18 to 72 passengers, but may

actually accommodate many more during the holiday seasons and on busy routes. The coaches in

use are vestibules, but some of these may be dummied on some trains for operational reasons.

Freight trains use a large variety of wagons.

Production Services

The Indian Railways manufactures a lot of its rolling stock and heavy engineering components.

This is largely due to historical reasons. As with most developing economies, the main reason is

import substitution of expensive technology related products. This was relevant when the general

state of the national engineering industry was immature.

Production Units, the manufacturing plants of the Indian Railways, are managed directly by the

ministry. The General Managers of the PUs report to the Railway Board. The Production Units

are:

Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, Chittaranjan

Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi

Diesel-Loco Modernisation Works, Patiala

Integral Coach Factory, Chennai

Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala

Rail Wheel Factory, Bangalore

Other independent units of Indian Railways are:

Central Organization For Railway Electrification, Allahabad

Central Organization For Modernization of Workshops, New Delhi

Important maintenance workshops on IR are:

Southern Railway Workshop, Ponmalai (Golden Rock), Tiruchirapalli

Rail Spring Karkhana, Gwalior

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Bharat Earth Movers Limited, Bangalore (BEML) is not part of railways, but manufactures

coaches for IR and Metro coaches for DMRC and going forward for Bangalore Metro also.

Suburban rail

The New Delhi Metro railwayMany cities have their own dedicated suburban networks to cater

to commuters. Currently, suburban networks operate in Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras),

Kolkata (Calcutta), Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune. Hyderabad, and Pune do not have dedicated

suburban tracks but share the tracks with long distance trains. New Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai

have their own metro networks, namely the New Delhi Metro, the Kolkata Metro,and the

Chennai MRTS- Mass Rapid Transport System, with dedicated tracks mostly laid on a flyover as

in other local EMU suburban service in Mumbai and Kolkata.

Suburban trains that handle commuter traffic are mostly electric multiple units. They usually

have nine coaches or sometimes twelve to handle rush hour traffic (Hyderabad MMTS;

abbreviation for Multi Modal Transport System has mostly six coach train with a single nine

coach one). One unit of an EMU train consists of one power car and two general coaches. Thus a

nine coach EMU is made up of three units having one power car at each end and one at the

middle. The rakes in Mumbai run on direct current, while those elsewhere use alternating

current.A standard coach is designed to accommodate 96 seated passengers, but the actual

number of passengers can easily double or triple with standees during rush hour. The Kolkata

metro has the administrative status of a zonal railway, though it does not come under the

seventeen railway zones.

Mumbai's suburban (local) trains handle 3 million people annuallyThe Suburban trains in

Mumbai handle more rush than any other suburban network in the world. The network has three

lines viz, western, central and harbour. The Central Line starts from Chhatrapati Shivaji

Terminus (CST) (Formerly Victoria Terminus or VT) and runs for more than 100 km till Kasara.

The Western Line starting from Churchgate runs again for more than 100 km till Dahanu Road.

It is thus the longest suburban rail system in the world. Also, it is busiest suburban network in the

world, in the sense that it carries more than 6 million passengers each day.

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Freight

Indian Railway carries a huge variety of goods ranging from mineral ores, fertilizers and

petrochemicals, agricultural produce, iron & steel, multimodal traffic and others. Ports and major

urban areas have their own dedicated freight lines and yards. Many important freight stops have

dedicated platforms and independent lines.

Indian Railways makes 70% of its revenues and most of its profits from the freight sector, and

uses these profits to cross-subsidise the loss-making passenger sector. However, competition

from trucks which offer cheaper rates has seen a decrease in freight traffic in recent years. Since

the 1990s, Indian Railways has switched from small consignments to larger container movement

which has helped speed up its operations. Most of its freight earnings come from such rakes

carrying bulk goods such as coal, cement, food grains and iron ore.

Indian Railways also transports vehicles over long distances. Trucks that carry goods to a

particular location are hauled back by trains saving the trucking company on unnecessary fuel

expenses. Refrigerated vans are also available in many areas. The "Green Van" is a special type

used to transport fresh food and vegetables. Recently Indian Railways introduced the special

'Container Rajdhani' or CONRAJ, for high priority freight. The highest speed notched up for a

freight train is 100 km/h (62 mph) for a 4,700 metric tonne load.

Recent changes have sought to boost the earnings from freight. A privatization scheme was

introduced recently to improve the performance of freight trains. Companies are being allowed to

run their own container trains. The first length of an 11,000-kilometre (6,800 mi) freight corridor

linking India's biggest cities has recently been approved. The railways has increased load limits

for the system's 220,000 freight wagons by 11%, legalizing something that was already

happening. Due to increase in manufacturing transport in India that was augmented by the

increase in fuel cost, transportation by rail became advantageous financially. New measures such

as speeding up the turnaround times have added some 24% to freight revenues.

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Honours and Awards

Indian Railways achieved a number of recognitions and awards in sports, tourism sector and for

excellence in operational matters. In the Common Wealth Games in Manchester, the Indian

team’s record performance has been mainly due to Railway team’s excellence in sports. Except

one member the entire women’s Hockey team which bagged the gold medal belonged to

Railways. Mohd Ali Qamar of Indian Railways has bagged gold medal for boxing and other

participants from Railways helped India win medals in many a team events. A number of

sportspersons from Railways were conferred with the coveted Arjuna Awards and other major

sports awards.

Social obligations and care for weaker sections

Senior citizens, students, disabled persons etc. enjoy concessional benefits from Railways. New

initiatives in this area during the last three years include reduction of age limits for special

concession to senior women citizen from 65 to 60 years, blind and mentally challenged persons

can now travel in AC classes on concessional rates. Free second class Monthly Season Tickets

(MSTs) for school going children upto tenth standard for travel between home and school was

also introduced.

17

Factual Information

Persons Covered

The survey covered 39 peoples who were contacted at the ticket counters of Allahabad Junction.

The breakup of those genders wise is given below:

Table 1

Gender M F Total

Count 34 5 39

% 87.17949 12.82051 100

Graph 1

Age Groups Covered

Following is the breakup of age group that was surveyed.

Table 2

Age 18-25 26-35 36-50 Above

50 Total

Count 20 9 8 2 39

% 51.28 23.07 20.51 5.12 100

Graph 2

18

Most of the respondents were from the age group 18-25 followed by the respondents from age

group 26-35.

Frequency of Travel

While ascertaining the customer satisfaction of the Indian railways, it is important to know the

frequency of the travelling. It may be the case that some experiences are repeated again and

again. On the contrary the persons traveling for the first time may get a good experience. So the

categories as shown below were made.

Once in a month travelers formed the major part, followed by those who travel infrequently.

Table 3

Once Week

Once Fortnight

Once Month Infrequent Total

Travel Frequency 9 2 17 11 39

% 23.07 5.12 43.58 28.20 100

Graph 3

Awareness of E-ticket / I-ticket

Indian railway has introduced internet based ticketing facility. It is very useful for them who

don’t have time and those who don’t want to wait in the long queues for the reservations. An

attempt was made in this survey to check how many respondents know about this facility. Most

of the respondents don’t have knowledge about such facility of reservation.

Table 4

Aware e-ticket/I ticket Yes No Total

Count 14 25 39

% 35.89 64.10 100

19

Graph 4

Mode of Reservation

There are different ways of booking a ticket. Respondents were asked to fill the options based on

the mode of the reservation preferred by them. As most of them were unaware of E-ticketing and

due to some other reasons most of them preferred to get their ticket purchased by someone else.

This was followed by self at Counter, then internet and then booking ticket travel agents.

Table 5

Mode of Reservation

Travel Agent Internet

Self at Counter

Somebody Else

Count 2 8 13 16 % 5.12 20.51 33.33 41.02 Graph 5

Reason for not booking ticket by self-The reasons were asked for not booking the ticket by

self. Following was the outcome. Long queues, lack of time and inconvenience were the major reasons

for not booking the tickets by self.

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Table 6

Reason not booking by self Inconvenience

Long queue

Lack of time

Difficulty to get CNF

ticket NA

Count 10 15 11 9 1

% 25.64 38.46 28.20 23.07 2.56

Graph 6

Rating of issues related to booking counter facilities

1. Least satisfied 2. Less Satisfied 3. Moderately Satisfied 4. Satisfied 5. Most Satisfied

Respondents were given a choice to rate the following issues based on their experiences. It

covered all the aspects of the reservation counter.

Table 7

Issues 1 2 3 4 5

Efficiency of clerk 33.33 15.38 25.64 12.82 12.82

Availability of forms 25.64 23.08 10.26 17.95 23.08 Availability of booking

staff 28.21 20.51 20.51 7.69 23.08

Attitude of booking clerk 28.21 17.95 20.51 20.51 12.82

Queue management 41.03 15.38 15.38 10.26 17.95

No. of booking counters 35.90 17.95 20.51 12.82 12.82

Sufficiency of fans/lights 25.64 20.51 15.38 23.08 15.38

Sufficiency of space 23.08 7.69 17.95 17.95 33.33

Info about 1-Train No. 17.95 10.26 23.08 20.51 28.21

2-Reservation Availability 25.64 10.26 20.51 25.64 17.95

Server/Link Failure 20.51 15.38 25.64 17.95 20.51

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Graph 7

a) Efficiency of Clerk: - Most of the respondents found least satisfied by the efficiency of

the booking clerk. Nearly 34% were least satisfied and only nearly 13% were most

satisfied.

b) Availability of forms: - Most of the respondents were found to be moderately satisfied on

this issue. The reason being that the forms are accessible to all without any demand or

without standing in the queue.

c) Availability of booking staff: - People were not happy on the availability of the staff on

the window. Only 23% respondents were most satisfied on availability of the clerk. The

reason may be they got irritated by standing in queue for long time.

d) Attitude of booking clerk: - Majority of the respondents found to be least satisfied by the

attitudes of the booking clerk. The reasons were like arrogant behavior, throwing money

and tickets to the passengers, not giving timely responses etc.

e) Queue management: - About 41% persons were least satisfied on the queue management

issue. There was no railway authority to maintain the queue. If the queue is long then the

standing time was large for the passengers, creating uncomfort and mental agony.

f) Number of booking counters: - Most of the respondents were unhappy on the number of

booking counters this may be due to limited number of ticket counters it is taking long

time to book the ticket. Most of them are expecting that the number of booking counters

should go up.

22

g) Sufficiency of fans/lights: - Most of the respondents were not happy regarding the

sufficiency of fans/lights; high temperature may be the reason for such attitude of

persons. Some of the fans were not working. Most of them rated these facilities as least

satisfactory.

h) Sufficiency of space: - Space seemed to be a moderately satisfied aspect. About 34%

persons were most satisfied by the available space.

i) Information about i) Train Number ii) Reservation availability: - There is not any facility

which could display the availability status for the general public. There is one chart

which gives information about the train numbers. For knowing the accommodation

availability the passengers need to stand in the queue and then ask to the booking clerk

regarding the availability of the seats. Due to these problems many respondents rated this

as least satisfied.

j) Server/Link working: - Most of the respondents found to not be satisfied by the server/link

working of the Indian railway.

Category of concession

Table 8

Category of concession Yes No

Count 14 25

% 35.90 64.10

Graph 8

Majority of travelers did not belong to the category of the concession.

23

Availing the concession

Table 9

Avail concession Yes No

Count 11 28

% 28.21 71.79

Graph 9

Only twenty two percent of the respondents was availing the concession facility out of 36% persons who

belong to reservation category.

Rating of the following issues related to concession

Table 10

Issues 1 2 3 4 5 NR

Procedure 25.64 7.69 15.38 7.69 15.38 28.21

Sufficiency of concessions 25.64 2.56 20.51 7.69 15.38 28.21

Behavior of staff 23.08 20.51 10.26 12.82 15.38 17.95

Various categories 23.08 15.38 15.38 7.69 17.95 20.51

24

Graph 10

Majority of the people were not happy related to procedure, sufficiency of concessions,

behavior of staff, various categories. Many persons were not aware of the procedure of

concession as they didn’t fall into the category of concession.

Reason for not availing the concession

Table 11

Reason for not availing concession

Procedure Delays Inconvenience

Not aware

Any other NA

Count 6 11 4 14 4

% 15.39 28.20 10.26 35.90 10.26

Graph 11

Most of the people were not able to avail concession because they were not covered under

the various concession categories. They had the full knowledge of various concession

categories available.

25

Rating issues related to change in rules

1. Most Justified 2. Somewhat justified 3.Neither Nor 4. Somewhat unjustified 5. Most

unjustified

Table 12

Issues 1 2 3 4 5 NR

Hike in

cancellation

charges

33.33 17.95 12.82 10.26 17.95 7.69

Extra amount

for e-ticket/I

ticket

35.90 25.64 12.82 10.26 10.26 5.13

Extra amount

for booking

from non

originating

station

30.77 25.64 20.51 7.69 10.26 5.13

Non issuance

of continuous

ticket

35.90 7.69 20.51 15.38 17.95 2.56

Withdrawal of

pre-pone/post-

pone tickets

23.08 25.64 12.82 10.26 20.51 7.69

Graph 12

a) Hike in cancellation charges: - Most of the respondents saw this as non justifiable action

of Indian railway. As many thirty three respondents rated as not justifiable.

26

b) Extra amount for e-ticket/I ticket: - Most of the respondents rated this as non justifiable

action. They have to pay extra to banks for transaction charges and again Indian railway

is charging extra amount from them. About 36% people found it completely unjustified.

c) Extra amount charged for booking from non originating station: - This was also rated as

non justifiable action by the respondents.

d) Non Issuance of continuous ticket: - This was also rated as non justifiable action. As

many thirty six responded this as a non justifiable action.

e) Withdrawal of pre-pone/post-pone of tickets: - Most of the respondents rated this as non

justifiable action, as they can’t pre-pone/post-pone their journey plans. If they have to

make any changes in their journey plan then they have to cancel the ticket and pay extra

charges for cancellation as well as issuing new ticket. Due to such reasons most of the

respondents rated this as non justifiable action.

Monetary Losses in last one year

1) Loss in Business:- Graph 13

Graph 14

27

26% of the respondents had loss in business once due to train being late.20% of the

respondents had loss in business more than once in the past one year due to train being late.

Most of the persons didn’t responded to this part may be because they found it to be very

lengthy and tough.

The amount of losses incurred were as follows

10% losses were Insignificant

15% losses were moderately significant

21% losses were significant.

2) Loss in official work

Graph 15

Graph 16

21% of the respondents had loss in business once due to train being late.

28

38% of the respondents had loss in business more than once due to train being late.

29% of the losses were rated as moderately significant

18% of the losses were rates as significant.

3) Ticket cancellation:-

Graph 17

Graph 18

21% of the respondents had loss in ticket cancellation once due to train being late.

28% of the respondents had loss in ticket cancellation more than once due to train being late.

The amounts of losses were as follows:-

13% of the respondents had significant loss.

21% of the respondents had moderately significant loss.

13% of the respondents had insignificant loss.

29

Non Monetary Losses

1. Health Problems:-

Graph 19

Graph 20

Eighty One percent of the total respondents had the physical problem due to train being late.

Nineteen percent of the total respondents had the physical problem more than once during the

last one year due to train being late.

13% of the respondents had insignificant loss due to health problems.

10% of the respondents had moderately significant loss due to health problems.

10% of the respondents had significant loss due to health problems.

30

2. Late for Interview:-

Graph 21

Graph 22

23% of the respondents reached late to attend interviews due to train being late.

18% of the respondents reached late more than once due to train being late.

5% of the respondents had insignificant loss.

5% of the respondents had moderately significant loss.

31% of the respondents had significant loss.

3. Late for Social occasion:-

31

Graph 23

Graph 24

8% of the respondents reached late for the social occasions once.

28% of the respondents reached late for the social occasions more than once.

13% of them had moderately significant loss.

8% of them had insignificant loss.

4. Mental Agony:- Graph 25

32

Graph 26

13% of the respondents had mental agony once due to train being late.

31% of the respondents had mental agony more than once due to train being late.

8% of the respondents had moderately significant loss.

13% of the respondents had moderately significant loss.

5. Other Physical Problems:- Graph 27

33

Graph 28

13% of the respondents had physical problem once.

10% of the respondents had other physical problems more than once.

10% of the respondents had insignificant loss.

8% of the respondents had significant loss.

7% of the respondents moderately significant loss.

Acceptable delay in trains:-

An attempt was made to find out how much delay the passengers can tolerate.

Table 13

Acceptable delay <15 Min 15-30 Min 30-45 Min 45Min -1 Hr. NR

Count 17 17 2 2 1

% 43.59 43.59 5.13 5.13 1

34

Graph 29

People were equally acceptable to less than 15mins and 15-30mins.Both the segments got a

tie between them this was followed by 30-45min and 45-Ihr segment.

Missed the train being it right time?

Table 14

Missed train due to being itright time Yes No NR

Count 14 24 1

% 35.90 61.54 2.56

Graph 30

62% of the respondents stated the reply as no. While only 36% responded to yes.

35

Observations

We were performing survey regarding “Analytical Study of consumer satisfaction of Indian

Railways” and we were covering the ticketing system of the Indian railways.

We performed it for two days, 26th of April and 27th of April 2008. We tried to cover various

conditions at different timings. We had questionnaires regarding ticketing system and related

facilities and the level of satisfaction of the passengers.

First day I covered the reservation ticket booking counters from 9:00am to 2:00pm and on the

second day from 3:30pm to 6:30 pm I surveyed the general ticket booking counters. I covered 39

persons in all.

During those critical hours of our survey I also observed some interesting facts and those are

listed below:-

1. Age Group:-

Majority of the persons who showed their interest in filling the questionnaire belonged to 18-

35yrs age group. This was the section which was present in majority at the ticket counters. Very

few persons greater than 50 were present there.

2. Gender:-

I found most of the males at the ticket counters for booking the ticket. The reason I found was

that long waiting time and unmanaged crowd at the booking counters forced females to stay

away from the booking.

3. Frequency of travel:-

Most of the respondents were once in a month travelers and next were infrequent travelers. This

showed that Allahabad junction mainly lacks in frequent travelers as they prefer other modes of

transport than railway, such as persons who travel to nearby cities like Lucknow prefer bus or

their private transport over railway because of flexibility of time.

4. Awareness of E-ticket/I-ticket:-

Most of the respondents were not aware of the e-ticket and I ticket facility provided by the Indian

railway. The reasons for this can be low literacy rate in Allahabad or frequent power cut which

interrupt E-ticket booking.

36

5. Observations related to various parameters of booking area:-

a) Efficiency of clerk:- Efficiency of the clerks at the booking counters was not so

satisfactory. The passengers returning from booking found to be dissatisfied and

angry. Some reservation queues were moving relatively faster than other queues.

b) Availability of forms:- Forms were available to all and in sufficient quantity

c) Availability of booking staff: - Booking staff was available all the time I was

conducting the survey, but the response of people didn’t match with my observation.

d) Attitude of booking clerk: - Booking clerks were not behaving properly with the

passengers. They were not entertaining even a single query that was asked by the

passengers. One the person even called me up to show the rude behavior of the clerk.

e) Queue Management:- Proper queue management was not there. It was creating a

problem at the booking window, as simultaneously 5-6 persons were standing

covering the booking window.

f) Number of booking counters:- Persons their didn’t liked to wait queue for long so

they were suggesting so as more counters should be opened up.

g) Sufficiency of fans/lights:- Most of the fans were not in a working condition. It was

daytime so I can’t comment anything on tube lights but extrapolatation suggests that

they would also be not be in working state.

h) Sufficiency of space: - Space was sufficient, but it was only for standing but there

was lack of adequate number of seats creating lot of problem to ladies and older

persons.

i) Information about train number/reservation availability: - This information was not

available easily to the passengers. Information about train number was available on a

big board but reservation status was not easily available.

j) Server/Link Failure: - Server/link was working satisfactorily.

6. Cleanness: - Though arrangements were made for cleaning the place but that was not

adequate. Arrangement of seats were not proper (dustbins were kept beside to seats).

37

7. There were some persons who were happy with the drastic change that had occurred in the

Indian railway but there were also many people who were totally disappointed by the railway

performance and it’s working.

8. There were a large number of illiterate persons on the ticketing counter who even didn’t know

as how to fill the reservation form by themselves.

9. The hygienic conditions around drinking water tap were too bad.

Suggestions given by the respondents

During my survey I found that most of the people took interest in giving their valuable responses

except some persons. Some of them were busy with their schedule or mentally agonized by the

problems faced at the counters.

1. Proper rules are not followed by railway peoples; they just follow rules to make their

money, so a proper arrangement should be made for checking such type of crimes.

2. The people were very annoyed with the late coming of the trains.

3. Some people said due to train being always late have set in their mind that it use to be

late and even missed their train.

4. The number of fans and lights are sufficient but they do not function well;so their proper

checking and up keeping should be done.

5. There should be proper maintenance of the queue.

6. Proper rules are not followed by railway peoples; they just follow rules to make their

money, so a proper arrangement should be made for checking such type of crimes.

7. There should be proper sitting arrangements for the people who have to get ticket as they

have to wait for a long time.

8. One of the respondent suggested that clerks should be removed from the ticketing

counters and automatic ticketing machines should be installed there to improve the

efficiency.

38

Limitations

1. Questionnaire Preference: - Respondents found it uneasy to fill the Hindi

questionnaire. As most of the persons were illiterate and the one who were literate

preferred english questionnaire. Some of the respondents even left the questions

unanswered.

2. Weather conditions:-Weather conditions were also not very good. It was very hot and

respondents were feeling tired to fill the questionnaire.

3. Questionnaire Preference: - Respondents found it uneasy to fill the Hindi

questionnaire. As most of the persons were illiterate and the one who were literate

preferred english questionnaire. Some of the respondents even left the questions

unanswered.

4. Choice of booking counter:-Booking counter choice also had affected the survey.

Persons in reservations counter were more willing to fill the forms then those in general

ticketing counters.

5. Swapping of the students:-Some errors may also creep in due to swapping of students

as the students one cant get the observation of each other. This will in a sense will reduce

the sample size of observation.

6. Sampling: - The sampling chosen was convenient and according to my timings. So the

chosen sample may not give correct results. Also the survey was conducted for limited

time and according to my convenience.

7. Non Response: - People found the questionnaire to be very lengthy and they preferred

to stand idle rather than fill up the questionnaire. Hence unwillingness of people was one

of the major limitations of this survey.

39

List of Graphs

Graph 1 ................................................................................................................................................. 17

Graph 2 ................................................................................................................................................. 17

Graph 3 ................................................................................................................................................. 18

Graph 4 ................................................................................................................................................. 19

Graph 5 ................................................................................................................................................. 19

Graph 6 ................................................................................................................................................. 20

Graph 7 ................................................................................................................................................. 21

Graph 8 ................................................................................................................................................. 22

Graph 9 ................................................................................................................................................. 23

Graph 10 ............................................................................................................................................... 24

Graph 11 ............................................................................................................................................... 24

Graph 12 ............................................................................................................................................... 25

Graph 13 ............................................................................................................................................... 26

Graph 14 ............................................................................................................................................... 26

Graph 15 ............................................................................................................................................... 27

Graph 16 ............................................................................................................................................... 27

Graph 17 ............................................................................................................................................... 28

Graph 18 ............................................................................................................................................... 28

Graph 19 ............................................................................................................................................... 29

Graph 20 ............................................................................................................................................... 29

Graph 21 ............................................................................................................................................... 30

Graph 22 ............................................................................................................................................... 30

Graph 23 ............................................................................................................................................... 31

Graph 24 ............................................................................................................................................... 31

40

Graph 25 ............................................................................................................................................... 31

Graph 26 ............................................................................................................................................... 32

Graph 27 ............................................................................................................................................... 32

Graph 28 ............................................................................................................................................... 33

Graph 29 ............................................................................................................................................... 34

Graph 30 ............................................................................................................................................... 34

41

References

1. www.indianrailways.gov.in/maps/all_india.htm (Accessed on 29 April 08)

2. www.mapsofindia.com/maps/india/india-railway-map.htm (Accessed on 29 April 08)

3. www.irfca.org/faq/ (Accessed on 30 April08)

4. http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/evaluation.htm (Accessed on 1May08)

5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Railways(Accessed on 1May08)