Railways will run on ‘care’ track: Lohani

Brand Indian Railways, the single largest national transporter that moves the largest number of people globally every year, intends to stand for ‘We care’, says Ashwani Lohani, who took over as the Chairman five months back.

All customers — both passengers and freight clients — should feel cared for and that is our endeavour, Lohani said. This care should be reflected in the way passengers experience conveniences, punctuality, security and above all safety, he told BusinessLine .

This will take nothing short of an image transformation for the carrier that is in common man’s perception not known to keep its timings, still has a long way to go on hygiene standards, and has in the recent past been plagued with safety issues — one of the reasons said to be behind Lohani’s move Air India last year.

Much of this proposed transformation will have to be driven by the Railways work-force that caters to the passengers. Indian Railways may be the single largest employer in the country with 1.3 million staff that bears its own staff and pension costs but it is not over-staffed, Lohani said.

Railways is surely on the modernisation drive, but that will also eventually mean automation — machines will take a part of the work such as ticketing, construction, signalling.

Asked how he plans to implement automation in future without taking away jobs from railways large labour force, Lohani said, “We are not over-staffed. Moreover, the technology benefits accruing to the Railways are gradual. So, the changes will be gradual.”

The Chairman insisted that across the organisations that he has worked — be it in India Tourism Development Corporation, the government- owned hotel chain or MP Tourism Development Corporation, Air India or the Indian Railways –– the one common element that has been his focus is human resource.

He is keen to set up an ecosystem within Railways where each of its 1.3 million employee, irrespective of the nature of their challenge, feels empowered to stand up for what they think is right.

“We are looking at reforms in processes — cultural and structural aspects. In cultural reforms, we would like to stress on human resources. Structural reforms will include reforms in organisational structure,” Lohani said. Some of it has already begun.

The Chairman is, for instance planning to having a universal report system for safety, an internal portal where any of the staff can raise concerns on safety anonymously.

Asked how Railways plans to deal with competition from low-cost airlines, that are offering cheaper than ever tickets compared to second and first air-conditioned segment train tickets, he said, “We are rationalising the change in dynamic pricing. The details will be finalised by end of January or early February.” There will be continued focus on AC 3-tier coaches, with the share of AC 3 tier going up, he said.

Lohani wants to drive the human resource reform in Railways right at the top. For one, he is one of the earliest to reach office every morning. But that’s also, he said, because he enjoys his day and responsibility to do something for a person he doesn’t know. Asked what he thinks of the magnitude of challenge he faces in transforming an over 160-year old organisation, Lohani points at a quote of Henry Ford he has placed right under the glass of his working table “If you think you can do a thing or you think you can’t do a thing, you are right”.

COMMENT NOW