TQM & OPERATION MANAGEMENT

NEED FOR TQM IN

PASSENGER RAILWAY SERVICES

INTRODUCTION

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.

Indian Railways (IR) is the state-owned railway company of India.

Indian Railways has a monopoly on the country's rail transport.

TQM is A process of systematic and planned change designated to drive a business

toward continuous improvement in terms of the quality of its

services, products, and support delivered to its

customers.

TQM- A definition

PRESENT SCENARIO

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

travel through railways. About 92 percent of the railway passengers travel

without reservation in unreserved coaches in trains in the country.

OVERCROWDINGi. Overcrowding is a big issue, with the General

compartment often being packed beyond capacity. ii. During the holiday seasons, reserved tickets have

to be booked two months in advance, to avoid a generally static waiting list.

iii. Railway ticket prices are particularly affected by the fact that India in general is a price-sensitive market.

iv. 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.

CURRENT PROBLEMS IN INDIAN RAILWAY

ACCIDENTS

i. Accidents such as derailment and collisions are common in recent times.

ii. Human error is the primary cause (83%)

blamed for mishaps.iii. The Konkan Railway route suffers from

landslides in the monsoon season, which has caused fatal accidents in the recent past.

iv. Aging colonial-era bridges and century-old tracks also require regular maintenance and upgrading.

LEVEL CROSSING AND FENCING

i. In many places, pedestrians, vehicles or cyclists may cut across the tracks to save time, causing a safety hazard to the railways.

ii. Bridges or level crossings over the tracks are non-existent or inconveniently placed.

iii. 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.

The major problem that passengers face 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 a 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.

PROBLEM STATEMENT AND SOLUTIONS

Huge rush / capacity of train: To reduce the rush we have to design coaches in such a manner that maximum utilization of available space can be done.i. Use of chair-car coaches instead of

sleeper .ii. Some coaches should have space for

standing only.iii. Sideways of coaches should be designed for

more capacity of luggage.

Passengers should be provided with facilities to enhance their comfort:i. Seats should be comfortable and spacious.ii. Hangers for standing people should be of

comfortable material .iii. Proper announcement for required

information as upcoming stations.iv. Automatic doors to avoid accidents.v. Proper availability of light  and air .vi. Some seats are provided for Handicapped

persons .

Reservation process

Function process Problems

Timeliness

Passenger reaching destination.Waiting time

Pre-arrangement of schedule Quick response to enquiries

Accidents, Level-crossing and fencing

Integrity Ease of reaching Check-in / Help countersTrain Details

Function plans correspond to customer's perceptionsAll necessary information  

Sanitation

Predictability

Correctness of informationEfficient check-in

Level of service will be repeated at other functions 

Trains getting cancelled

Customer satisfaction

Reply forms Guest comments

Customer feedback formAvailable with the attendants.Comments on staff

Overcrowding

MEASUREMENT IN PASSENGER RAIL SERVICE INDUSTRY

They should mainly focus on customer as their previous cost differential will not work.

The customers should reach in time at their destination place.

Good food should be served to the customers

Attendant should be there so that if any problem occurs at the time of journey the customers can approach them

THE FOCUS

They should provide security to the customer travelling by providing security persons.

E-ticket facility should be provided by the railway authorities in a proper manner.

An open, cooperative culture has to be created by management.

A committed and well trained work force should be provided that can participate in quality improvement activities,

THE FOCUS

PERSPECTIVE I: POKA YOKE (MISTAKE- PROOFING)

Mechanism that prevents a mistake from being made which is obvious at a glance. Prevention devices: (i) 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

(ii) 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

RECOMMENDATIONS

Detection devices: (i) To overcome the imbalance of uneven distribution of passengers during rush, we can make flexibility in adding and removing number of coaches according to our need  or by increasing and decreasing the frequency of trains

(ii) 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

PERSPECTIVE II: 5S HOUSEKEEPING

(i) SORT: separation of the Long distance Sleeper

trains with Small distance trains sorting of space in coach by separating

sitting with standing passengers

(ii)SYSTEMATIZE: proper sign boards to guide the passengers information should be well mentioned or

announced in easily understandable language to all the passengers

(iii) SWEEP: Coaches, sanitation and platform should  be

neat and clean Unchecked hurdles like luggage can be a

cause of the accident

PERSPECTIVE II: 5S HOUSEKEEPING (contd.)

(iv) STANDARDISE: some task and rule that should be followed regularly i.e. trains should be clean daily there should be a speed limit Over crowding of the trains must be condemned

(v) SELF- DISCIPLINE: 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

CONSOLIDATION OF TQM PERSPECTIVES

THE PDCA CYCLE:

PLAN: Management and officials of Indian Railway should do a 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.

STUDY / CHECK: According to our survey we can know if 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.

(i) By Implementing above design we can overcome the problem of overcrowding in the trains.

(ii) Also passengers feel comfort and satisfied according to there needs.

(iii) Moreover the frequency of trains can also be increased at reasonable cost.

(iv) It also saves the time of passengers.

CONCLUSION

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