OD INTERVENTIONS

INDIAN RAILWAYS: CHANGING THE TIMES AND CHANGING

WITH THE TIMES

INTRODUCTION
Post Independence, the railways symbolized the Nehruvian mix of development
and Social Welfare. Railways became the backbone of the public sector
industrialization and took development to the remotest corners of the country and
were seen more as a means of generating employment than revenues.
Soon railways also became a means of bestowing political patronage with the rail
ministry being the most sought after ministry for handing out favors. Freight, the
bread and butter of railways lost way to passenger traffic, even a small hike in
passenger fares could lead to a government losing favor with the masses. The
pathetic condition of state and national highways ensured that railways did not face
any sort of competition. But Indian Railways has always been a harbinger of
change rather than a mute witness of it.
OBJECTIVES
The objectives for the change can be identified in different facets of Indian
Railways. Some of these have been identified as process complexities,
technological factors, competition, customer satisfaction and the world trends.
The process of personal reservation system has become complex because
there are more than 60,000 seats/ berths reservations per day, seven different
categories of trains operating , using 72 types of coaches, seven classes of
reservation, more method of calculation of fare is also quite complex as
charges are based on the distance, comfort level provided and the transit
time.
Technological factors which act as impetus for change include availability of
budget for IT infrastructure and availability of technological knowledge
base.
Railways also face competition from road transport and probable future
competition from airways. The requirement for customer satisfaction and the
world trends, i.e. , massive restructuring in Japan, UK, and China also call

for a change in the way the Indian Railways operate, including the systems
that run it.
ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE IN INDIAN RAILWAYS
An organization can undergo both planned and unplanned changes. We
would be restricting our focus to planned changes. Planned changes can be
of two types:
a) First order change: Linear and continuous changes
b) Second order change: Multidimensional, multilevel, discontinuous,
radical change involving reframing of assumptions about the organization
and the world in which it operates.
In case of Indian Railways, lets see some of the planned changes, which have
taken place over the decades.
a) First order changes:
Doubling of railway routes
Rail road kms expansion
Phasing out of steam engines
Replacing diesel engines with electric engines
Meter gauge to broad gauge conversion of routes
Electrification of routes
Third class accommodation abolished
Introduction of AC -2 tier and AC- 3 tier
Introduction of railway catering (IRCTC)
Outsourcing of maintenance operations to private vendors
Replacing four wheeler with eight wheeler wagons
b) Second order changes:
Usage of IT in Railways
Kolkata Metro Rail
Setting up of National Rail Vikas Yojna
Expansion of Railways Zones from nine to sixteen

CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF USAGE OF IT IN RAILWAYS

60S
A dedicated skeletal communication network was developed by IR, as a
basic requirement for train operation.
Plan to progressively computerize railways working was accepted in
principle by Management and Labor Unions.
70s
Pay roll management Inventory control and operating statistics.
Deployment of computers for productivity improvement through building
up operational data bases.

80s

Computerization of Passenger Reservation Arrangement

Developing a Freight Operations Information System
Replacing the existing Computers at the Zonal Railways
Production Units with the State of the art Computer System

90s
Enterprise wide computer System (RAILNET)
IT applications for passenger business area
CONCLUSION
Revolution dont last, Evolution have to break free from the shackles of political
expediency and need a fresh breath of professional management. Right sort of
noises are being made in the corridor of power but railways need to move ahead in
upgrading its servicers to world class levels, privatizations though not a panacea
could be beneficial in locomotive and equipment manufacturing, catering and
maintenance of services and even the core of function of running trains based on
the Japanese model of co-existence of state as well as private run railways.
Railways no longer function in a monopolistic market; they face stiff competition
from both roads and airways, to maintain its competitive advantage railways have
to look within, invest in its systems and its most important resource, the employee
who oils the machinery of IR each and every day.

ORGANISATIONA CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT

NAME: RAHUL MISHRA

ROLL NO: 33
ASSIGNMENT NO: 01
SUBMISSION DATE: 02.12.2010
BATCH: PGDM (2009-11)