Indian Railways expects to electrify all tracks by 2024 making it the first network in the world to achieve 100% electrification. Pace of electrification is about 6,000 km per year, with 60% of network electrified so far. And, all electric locomotives will be adopting ‘regenerative braking’ to feed power back to the system in about five years.
The government has plans to spend $70 billion to upgrade railway network into an electric and digitised platform even while opening up for private companies to operate passenger trains, manufacturing coaches and locomotives, and redeveloping railway stations.
Yet, the roots of this transformation began in 2017 in South Central Railway (SCR) under the leadership of the then General Manager V.K. Yadav (now Railway Board chairman), observed Philip Zerrillo, a practice professor of marketing strategy, deputy dean-corporate and international relations, and deputy dean-Mohali campus at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad.
In a feature story in Singapore Management University’s ‘Asian Management Insight’ magazine titled ‘Indian Railways: On track for transformation’, the professor said many of the initiatives taken up by SCR without the employees’ support was not possible. This was achieved through a programme of intensive training of about one lakh staff assessing their needs and organising training sessions.
Divisional managers were empowered to take decisions relating to operation, maintenance, safety and revenue plus ensure employees are provided with a pleasant work environment. Workmen’s clothing, footwear, and tools were improved, as some items were heavy and weighed the staff down, especially during winter. It was mandated they are provided with a proper resting place after every five to six kilometres of track maintenance.
For the first time, they were provided with bottled water, clean restrooms and facilities to warm their food, all of which went a long way to motivate and encourage them.
“These inexpensive facilities and basic human welfare improvements have resulted in improved asset reliability and safety. Women employees were provided with separate changing rooms and rest rooms at their workplace,” he noted. An e-office platform was initiated simultaneously improving transparency and sustainability through reduction in paper use.
“Thus, human resource management lies at the core of the transformation plan to ensure its employees are well taken care of,” said Prof. Zerrillo. Programmes like ‘Passport Mela’ where passport officers came to railway premises and issued passports to railway employees (many wanted to visit their relatives in the Gulf), holding a job fair for children of employees where about 10,000 jobs were offered and monitoring employee performance in a systematic manner were an important part of the transformation.
The professor said independent surveys have shown an ‘outstanding’ improvement in cleanliness at railway stations over the last two to three years even as suggestions were taken from employees on improving processes and empowering 68 divisions and 17 zonal railways — most of it beginning with SCR.
SCR led focus on employees welfare and policy changes in processes, structure and culture has propelled a change in organisational behaviour galvanising over a million employees nationwide to perform better putting the “entire Indian Railways network on an ‘amazing’ journey of transformation which the country has rarely witnessed,” said Prof Zerrillo.
