No printing of tickets; ticket checking by RPF; outsource cleaning: Proposals on streamlining railways
NEW DELHI: The railways may not print tickets, station masters could double up as signal maintainers, RPF staff and onboard technicians could check tickets-if a slew of proposals from zonal railways to streamline the national transporter is accepted by the Railway Board.
The railways is planning to streamline its operations by training and multi-skilling its staffers to take on multiple jobs, officials said.
The national transporter is already working on the modalities to unify eight of its services into one central service -- Indian Railway Management Service -- after the Union Cabinet nod for restructuring of railways in 2019.
While the proposals from various zones are still coming in and no decision has been taken on the matter yet, officials said the process once completed will lead to better work management across the rail network.
The proposals pertaining to the merger of key posts in the accounts, commercial, electrical, mechanical, engineering, medical, personnel, operating, stores, signal and telecommunication departments, and other posts.
"No ticket printing should be undertaken on the lines of airlines. Passengers should be permitted to show their tickets on mobiles or get them printed on a self-ticket printing machine on the lines of the self-printing boarding pass at airports," one of the proposals said.
Another railway zone proposed that technicians onboard trains can be utilized to check tickets, while another suggested that the Railway Protection Force (RPF) staff should be allowed to check tickets at stations.
"Technicians be utilized for checking tickets and maintenance of coaches retiring room attendants and waiting room attendants can be merged," it said.
According to the proposals, all ticket checking, reservation, and inquiry posts from the commercial department be merged.
The proposals are a part of an exercise by the railways to ensure that the staff utilization is maximum and each category will get proper training in multi-skilling before they take on their new roles, officials said.
Many zones have also suggested that the national transporter outsource certain jobs that do not core railway works like that of safai karmacharis, upkeep of station buildings and platforms which can be maintained by private agencies supervised by the environment and housekeeping department of railways.
'The posts of masons, plumbers, carpenters, fitters, valvemen, and electricians can be merged," said three other zones' recommendations.
The railways may also merge the medical cadre categories into four from the seven at present.
The national transporter had last month formed an eight-member committee to look into various issues pertaining to re-skilling of its staff, including identifying cadres who can be trained and used for multi-skills, the scope and details of the kind of skills to be imparted to the chosen railway officials, fixation of seniority in the merged cadres, pay grades in the merged cadres and medical classifications.
The proposals will be scrutinized by the committee before being finalized and sent to the Railway Board for approval.
The committee has a month's time to complete the entire process.