Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw delivered a significant address to senior railway officials at the 70th Ati Vishisht Rail Seva Puraskar ceremony, emphasizing the critical need to abandon colonial mindset and place greater trust in Indian companies' technological capabilities. The Minister's remarks focused on transforming Indian Railways into a world-class organization aligned with India's development goals.

Recognition of Outstanding Service

During the ceremony, Vaishnaw honored 100 railway officials for their exceptional contributions across various fields of train operations. He praised their collective dedication, noting how their efforts have enabled Indian Railways to overcome long-standing operational challenges, expand network capacity, and improve overall efficiency while achieving major infrastructure and operational milestones.

Six-Point Transformation Roadmap

The Railway Minister outlined a comprehensive strategy to elevate Indian Railways to new heights, presenting a detailed roadmap with six key focus areas:

Innovation and Indigenous Capabilities

Vaishnaw highlighted the success of indigenously developed Vande Bharat trains as a testament to India's technological prowess. He emphasized the importance of engaging startups and innovators while encouraging railway employees to contribute reform ideas. The Minister stressed that successful innovations must be scaled across the entire railway network to maximize their impact.

Vision for Viksit Bharat by 2047

The Railway Minister articulated the ambitious vision of achieving Viksit Bharat, Viksit Railways by 2047, requiring Indian Railways to operate at an entirely new performance level. Drawing parallels with major national reforms, he called for similar courage and confidence in implementing transformative changes across the organization.

Vaishnaw expressed confidence in the railway system's potential, stating that with a young workforce, transparent operational systems, and a reform-oriented mindset, Indian Railways is well-positioned to become a global benchmark and serve as a key pillar in India's journey toward becoming a developed nation by 2047.

Indian Railways is grappling with a significant surge in passenger complaints about cleanliness standards, prompting the Railway Ministry to issue specific directives for improved grievance handling across all zones. The complaints, lodged through the Rail Madad app, revealed concerning trends in passenger satisfaction during the October-November period.

Sharp Rise in Cleanliness Complaints

The data presents a stark picture of declining cleanliness standards across the railway network. Bedroll-related complaints witnessed a dramatic increase of approximately 50%, while coach cleanliness issues also saw substantial growth during the review period.

The November figures represent a 48% rise in coach cleanliness complaints compared to September, while bedroll complaints maintained approximately 50% higher levels in both October and November.

Passenger Feedback Trends

While the absolute number of passenger feedback responses increased during the period, the quality of ratings showed concerning declines. The feedback data reveals a troubling pattern in passenger satisfaction levels.

Despite higher feedback volumes, the proportion of 'excellent' and 'satisfactory' ratings declined. For bedroll services, these positive ratings dropped by 1.90% in October and 0.83% in November compared to September. Coach cleanliness saw even steeper declines, with 'excellent' and 'satisfactory' feedback falling by 2.62% in October and 1.19% in November.

Ministry Response and Directives

Expressing concern over the deteriorating feedback trends, the Railway Ministry issued a letter on January 6 to all zonal principal chief mechanical engineers responsible for housekeeping services. The directive emphasized the need for immediate analysis and corrective action.

The ministry stated: "During the monthly review of Rail Madad grievances, a comparative analysis of bedroll and coach cleanliness-related complaints under train cause-wise feedback for October and November, in comparison with September, has revealed a decline in overall feedback percentages and a reduction in overall 'excellent' and 'satisfactory' feedback ratios."

Key ministry directives include:

• Analyzing reasons for reduced feedback ratios
• Identifying causes behind declining 'excellent' and 'satisfactory' ratings
• Implementing suitable measures to improve grievance redressal mechanisms
• Strengthening overall cleanliness standards across the network

Rail Madad System Overview

The Railway Ministry emphasized the importance of the Rail Madad portal as an integrated digital grievance redressal system. The platform facilitates registration, real-time monitoring, and time-bound resolution of passenger complaints, serving as a crucial tool for measuring and improving passenger satisfaction across the railway network.

The current data trends suggest that despite the digital infrastructure being in place, the actual service delivery regarding cleanliness standards requires significant improvement to restore passenger confidence and satisfaction levels.