‘Train Captain’ to ensure comfortable journey
Nitish Sharma
The Ambala division of the Indian Railways has conceptualised ‘Train Captain’ to ensure better facilities in trains and quick redress of the grievance of passengers.
Under the initiative, the senior-most Train Ticket Examiner (TTE) in the train is given the responsibility of maintaining all amenities available on board such as catering, cleanliness, security, air-conditioning, linen, signals and telecom. A badge with ‘Train Captain Ambala Division Northern Railway’ engraved on it is being given to every Captain to be worn on the shirt or the coat.
All escorting staff will report to him 30 minutes before the arrival of the train. He will check the functioning of all amenities in the train and any passenger, who has any problem, can contact him.
Praveen Gaur Dwivedi, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Ambala, says, “To address the grievances of travelling passengers, the concept of Train Captain has been conceptualised. It has been implemented in all 71 trains being manned by the Ambala division. It is an attempt to provide a smooth journey to passengers. They can now just inform about their grievances to one man (Train Captain) for resolution”.
The division is trying to improve facilities provided to passengers and the staff as well. In a move towards modernisation, the division is providing ‘wheeled Guard line briefcases’ to guards in place of the traditional heavy iron line boxes (trunks). The main benefits of the new Guard line briefcase are financial savings as now porters will not be needed and also there is no need of publishing a large number of rulebooks; there will be no detention of trains on account of late arrival of the guard box, and no obstruction in the movement of passengers because of heavy boxes on platforms.
Dwivedi says the wheeled briefcases are smaller in size and lighter in weight compared to the traditional boxes. The essential guard-kit to be carried by a guard has been redesigned to be lighter and smaller so that it’s easy to carry. We have received a positive response from the guards, who have been provided lighter briefcases. Preloaded tablets have been provided in place of rulebooks and working timetables. At present, these are being provided to the guards who want it voluntarily and special training is also being provided to them”.
A line box usually contains a medical kit, two red flags and one green flag, manual book on train operations, torch/hand signal lamp, detonators in a tin case, a whistle, and a chain with a suitable lock for securing the box, besides many other items.
The first briefcase was provided on July 2 to Guard PL Meena from the Ambala division who went on duty with it on the Himachal Express train on the Ambala-Amb Andaura-Ambala route.
An official says other divisions have also started replacing big iron boxes with lighter ones. Diwedi says soon bottle crushing machines will also be introduced to keep the stations plastic free.
