Rail officials get first hand experience of public woes

New Delhi: Smelly toilets, insufficient staff, broken seat handles in AC chair car, leaking roof on platforms were some of the things that general manager, north eastern railway, Rajeev Agarwal, found during his travel in the Intercity Express on Saturday.

Mr Agarwal travelled between Deoria and Gorakhpur to meet people and get their feedback on the service. The move comes days after the Railways asked its senior officers to get first hand experience of passengers’ woes.

Similar experiences were noted in various other routes across the country where senior Railway officials travelled in general and sleeper coaches and inspected toilets, bedrolls, electrical fittings and catering services.  Based on their experience and feedback from the passengers, they ordered immediate action in several cases.

For instance, during the Intercity Express inspection and interaction with passengers, Mr Agarwal found that though the biotoilets in the train were were generally clean they had foul smell.

“It is told that, it is not possible to fit Venturi in toilets having FRP (Fibre Reinforced Panel) panels. I have asked Chief Mechanical Engineer to provide exhaust fan during periodic overhauls in such toilets,” the GM said in his report.

The official further said that there was only one onboard housekeeping staff (OBHS) per five coaches which was inadequate as one staff per two coaches is needed during the day journey in inter-city trains.

Similarly, the AC chair car had old seats handles and that too were damaged. The railways workshop was unable to replace these due to many variant and makes of seats for which spares were not available.

“Even the mounting of seats is different. At least mounting needs to be uniform to ensure easier replacement…For one time replacement of all seats, board gives refurbishment sanction,” the official said in his notings.

“Stations, platforms, circulating area and space between platforms were clean but area after the plat form ends, needs improved cleaning.

Leakages on platforms from rain/valley gutters will be attended on priority,” he added.

During checks on Poorva Express in sleeper and 3AC coaches by divisional railway manager, Mughalsarai, Mr Pankaj Saxena along with other officials it was found that cleanliness of toilets particularly the flushing system were not up to the mark and non-availability of toilets in local trains was a major issue among the commuters.

Besides, the passengers also complained about non-availability of POS bill machines with vendors hampering cashless transaction.

Lauding the efforts, Union railway minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday tweeted saying senior Railway officials are making an effort to improve facilities by traveling in ordinary class coaches and taking feedback from passengers on their experiences.

“I feel proud that our officers are working with common people to improve Railways,” Mr Goyal said on Twitter.