Submitted By:

Under the Guidance of

School of Management Studies,

Motilal Nehru National Institute of
Technology,
Allahabad
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

2
 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.

3
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.

4
RAILWAY ZONES
For administrative purposes, Indian Railways is divided into seventeen zones.

Sl. Date
Name Abbr. Headquarters Divisions
No Established

Northern April 14, Ambala, Firozpur, Lucknow,

1. NR Delhi
Railway 1952 Moradabad

North Eastern
2. NER 1952 Gorakhpur Izzatnagar, Lucknow, Varanasi
Railway

Northeast
Alipurduar, Katihar, Lumding,
3. Frontier NFR 1958 Guwahati
Rangia, Tinsukia
Railway

Eastern
4. ER April, 1952 Kolkata Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol, Malda
Railway

South Eastern Adra, Chakradharpur, Kharagpur,

5. SER 1955 Kolkata
Railway Ranchi

Secunderabad, Hyderabad,
South Central October 2,
6. SCR Secunderabad Guntakal, Guntur, Nanded,
Railway 1966
Vijayawada

Chennai, Madurai, Palghat,

Southern April 14,
7. SR Chennai Tiruchchirapalli, Trivandrum,
Railway 1951
Salem (Coimbatore)

8. CR
Central November 5, Mumbai Mumbai, Bhusawal, Pune,

5
 Railway 1951 Solapur, Nagpur

Western November 5, Mumbai Central, Baroda, Ratlam,

9. WR Mumbai
Railway 1951 Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Bhavnagar

South Western
10. SWR April 1, 2003 Hubli Hubli, Bangalore, Mysore
Railway

North Western October 1,

11. NWR Jaipur Jaipur, Ajmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur
Railway 2002

West Central
12. WCR April 1, 2003 Jabalpur Jabalpur, Bhopal, Kota
Railway

North Central
13. NCR April 1, 2003 Allahabad Allahabad, Agra, Jhansi
Railway

South East
14. Central SECR April 1, 2003 Bilaspur, CG Bilaspur, Raipur, Nagpur
Railway

East Coast Khurda Road, Sambalpur,

15. ECoR April 1, 2003 Bhubaneswar
Railway Visakhapatnam

East Central October 1, Danapur, Dhanbad, Mughalsarai,

16. ECR Hajipur
Railway 2002 Samastipur, Sonpur

Konkan January 26,

17. KR Navi Mumbai None
Railway† 1998

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.

6
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)

7
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

8
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

Indian states of Maharashtra, Goa and

Area served
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)

9
  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

10
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

11
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.

12
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
13
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.

14
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.

15
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.

16
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
Above
Age 18-25 26-35 36-50 50 Total
Count 20 9 8 2 39
% 51.28 23.07 20.51 5.12 100
Graph 2

17
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 Once Once
Week Fortnight 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

18
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 Travel Self at Somebody
Reservation Agent Internet Counter 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.

19
Table 6
Difficulty
to get
Reason not booking Long Lack of CNF
by self Inconvenience queue time 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

20
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.
21
 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.

22
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

23
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 Procedure Not Any
concession Delays Inconvenience aware 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.

24
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.

25
 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

26
 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.

27
 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.

28
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.

29
 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:-

30
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

31
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

32
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

33
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.

34
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.

35
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).

36
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.

37
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.

38
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

39
Graph 25 ............................................................................................................................................... 31

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

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

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

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

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

40
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)

41