MANAGEMENT CASE

CREW MANAGEMENT IN INDIAN RAILWAYS:

A CASE OF DELHI DIVISION

Vandana Srivastava

Information Systems are used in most organizations to provide solutions to certain problems. Irrespective
of whether they are developed in-house or procured, information systems tend to evolve. The Crew
Management System, at the Delhi Division of Northern Railway, is one such example. This case is used to
bring out the problems faced by large, traditional and bureaucratic organizations in handling and setting
up information systems. While most Information System (IS) solutions require a complete overhaul of the
organizational structures and working systems, the best way to implement an IS in such organizations is
parallel introduction and evolutionary approach. It aims to bring to the fore, the implementation and
operational difficulties associated with IS and how organizations need to adopt an evolutionary approach
to building information systems.

INTRODUCTION
“HOW much is the forecast? For two?! Is one on a light
engine….? Then get them from Jind…. It is a mess!
Nobody has matched power crew requirements….” It
was work as usual at the office of Mr. Gupta on a cold
January morning. Mr. Gupta had a problem on his hands.
As a Chief Power Controller of the Division, he was
heading the mechanical power wing of the Delhi Division
of Northern Railway. One of his prime responsibilities
was to ensure the availability of running staff
(Locomotive Drivers and Assistant Drivers) for the
trains. And today he was short of two! There was not
enough crew data to forecast the requirements and match
them to availability. This was an everyday affair. The
stress levels were high. Mr. Gupta had been at this post
for the last five years and he realized that things could
not go on like this ….something had to be done!
Background
Indian Railways, the largest railway network in the world,
had over 62,000 route kilometres of track. [http://sify.com/
news/]. It employed about 1.6 million people, carried over
11 million passengers and one million tonnes of freight
everyday. The railways was operating about 13,000 trains
daily and had 6,984 railway stations. In order to be able to
handle operations of such large magnitude, the railways
was divided into 16 zones. Each zone was again divided
into divisions. Though each division across all zones of
the railways had some unique operational requirements,
by and large, they were very similar.
The Delhi Division [Annexure 1] of Northern
Railways, dealt with the highest number of long distance
trains on Indian Railways. It had been divided into six
sections which were continuously monitored and
controlled from New Delhi Control Office.

This case has been prepared by Mrs. Vandana Srivastava, Faculty, IILM Institute for Higher Education, Gurgaon, India. The author is grateful to Mr.
Santosh Sinha, Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer, Delhi Division of Northern Railway, Prof. Ishwar Dayal, Distinguished Professor and Ex-
Director, IIM-Lucknow and Mr. Sanjeev Kishore, General Manager, RITES India Ltd., for their valuable guidance and support. This case has been
prepared as a basis for class discussions and does not depict correct or incorrect handling of the situation.
88 Srivastava
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Crew Management
Crew Management was a vital function performed in
train operations on Indian Railways. It aimed at efficient
deployment of running staff (Loco Drivers and Traffic
Guards), ensuring availability wherever and whenever
required. The running staff was divisionally managed
but worked under three separate functional departments
viz., Traffic department (guards), Mechanical department
(drivers, assistants, fireman for steam/diesel locomotives)
and Electrical traction department (drivers and assistants
for electric locomotives). Performance of staff had to be
monitored to ensure safety and reliability in the running
of trains. The running staff was governed by the
provisions of hours of employment regulations. These
regulations laid down the rules for hours of duty
performed per fortnight and the requirements of rest at
home station and outstation [Annexure 3].
Efficient crew and power management were
essential for sufficient fluidity in train operations. Due
to the higher priority and hence fixed schedule of
passenger trains, crew management for passenger trains
was a streamlined process. Freight operations (goods
trains) were scheduled on the basis of requirement and
availability of slots and therefore, crew management
for freight operations had to be done as and when
required. An improper crew forecasting for freight
trains would lead to non-availability of running staff
for freight trains. This would create problems in the
freight train scheduling and result in loss of revenue
for the railways. Moreover, the number of passenger
trains and magnitude of freight operations would
increase every year. This added strain to an already
stretched system. Hence, efficient crew management
has become even more important.
Some Facts about the Crew Scenario at Mechanical
Power Wing of Delhi Division
Mr. Gupta was heading the mechanical power wing
[Annexure 2] of the Delhi Division, which looked after
the maintenance and operation of seven Running
Rooms1, six crew booking lobbies2, three Rail Diesel
Installations3, one ‘A’ class Accident Relief Train
including 140 tonne crane and the Heritage Steam Care
Centre4 at Rewari. Managing freight and crew operations
was the main activity of the Power Wing.
The running staff strength for the power wing of the
Delhi Division was 1200. They would report for duty at
various crew lobbies over the division. The division
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maintained and provided running rooms for the running
staff. While most crew lobbies had living quarters for
the staff, some lobbies were transit lobbies, i.e., the
running staff did not have living quarters here. The clerk
at the crew lobby maintained the record of the crew
signing in or signing off. Apart from this, crew members
would undergo breath- analyzer test at the lobbies and
the results were recorded. Any important message to be
relayed to the running staff was handed over at the crew
lobby. Therefore, the crew lobbies had all the information
for the running staff.
Mr. Gupta had the administrative control over six
out of eight crew booking lobbies of the division
[Annexure 1]. Of these six lobbies, all lobbies except
DLI catered to crew for diesel engines only. Keeping in
mind the magnitude of operations, work had been
allocated among lobbies.
The Old Delhi Crew Lobby (DLI) was the main Crew
Lobby for Mail/Express and Passenger trains. All major
Diesel and Electric Mail/Express and Passenger links
allocated to the division were operated from here, with
all other lobbies being minor lobbies. The major freight
lobbies were SSB (Shakur Basti) and JHI (Jind). Between
them, DLI, SSB and JHI accounted for a total of 750
running staff, that is, about 250 running staff each! Apart
from handling through traffic, these lobbies were
responsible for placement and withdrawal of rakes (goods
wagons) for loading by the division.
Crew Management at Delhi Division: The Past
Crew Management formed just a part of Mr. Gupta’s
work. He not only had to be aware of crew status but
also be able to forecast the requirements and match the
crew availability to the forecast. This required complete
control: knowing and monitoring the running staff
movement over geographically separated lobbies of the
division.
The Manual System
Crews were booked manually from either various lobbies
where they were headquartered or from outstation lobbies
touched during train operations. The manual system
operated as follows: on reporting arrival crews were
granted home rest or outstation rest, as the case may be.
After completion of scheduled rest, these crews were
made available for freight operations. Crew availability
was calculated on the basis of reported arrivals. All
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 Crew Management in Indian Railways: A Case of Delhi Division1 89●
information about crew availability status was recorded
manually at the lobbies and reported manually to the
Power Control at Delhi.
Some of the Problems with the Manual System
● It was very difficult to ascertain the location of each
crew at any given moment. Complete crew picture
was rarely available. The Divisional Power Control
(PRC, henceforth), operating under Mr. Gupta’s
directions, would take regular telephonic feedback
from various lobbies for monitoring.
● Depending upon Traffic forecasts, crew balancing,
i.e., spare crew movement between various lobbies
was finalized by PRC. Since PRC’s crew position
was also based on reported arrivals, accurate crew
position was not available. Sometimes in an eight-
hour shift PRC was not be able to talk even once
every hour to each Crew Lobby. Consequently, not
only would matching of crew with traffic forecasts
suffer rather proper traffic planning would become
a casualty leading to detentions of freight trains.
● Divisional control was not on real time basis and
there was always an element of delay. Even the 10-
hour position, when required, took at least two days
to be compiled from all lobbies.
● It was frequently seen that mileage earnings were
not equal between all crews. While some crews were
over-utilized, there were others who were
underutilized.
● Updated Current Crew Refresher and Leave Reserve
details were not available in the division.
● Crew revenue calculations were done manually
which would at times be inaccurate and delayed.
● On the safety front, while breath-analyzer test was
mandatory, its enforcement remained sluggish.
Moreover, Mr. Gupta knew that the DLI division
was set for an increase in running staff by about 200 in
the coming few months. This would have increased
pressure on the manual system.
Systems Solution: The Crew Management System
The problems with the manual crew booking and
monitoring system were not confined to DLI division
alone but were prevalent all over the Indian Railways.
Crew Management System was identified as the solution
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and taken up for resolution as part of MIS project
sanctioned by Railway Board in August.
The modules for computerized crew management
were developed as a part of Mechanical MIS for Southern
Railway by M/S BITECH, Chennai. It had been tested
successfully in various divisions of Southern and South
Western Railways (SR and SWR, henceforth). In
September, Mr. Gupta was nominated to monitor the
implementation of the Mechanical MIS modules in the
DLI division.
Crew Management: The Present
Crew Management System at the Lobbies
The system was a client-server software. The server
software was developed in Oracle 8i whereas the client
end had the software in Oracle 6i. The front end was
designed in Visual Basic. The system aimed to streamline
the manual work by providing a computerized solution.
Even though the software was network-enabled, yet
no networking with Divisional Control had been done
in any lobbies of Southern and South Western railways,
where it was installed earlier. All lobbies in SR and SWR
were working on a stand-alone basis. When the system
was implemented at the DLI division it was again setup
as stand-alone system in the various lobbies. Such an
implementation computerized the work at the lobbies.
To meet software/networking requirements one
server (Intel Xeon 2.8 GHz) at NDLS Control and
sufficient number of client end Personal Computers (PC,
henceforth) (P4- 3.0 GHz) were procured and were
distributed to all lobbies, Power control, Operating and
Headquarter. The hardware procurement was completed
in May next year.
Advantages of the System
At the lobbies, the system could generate the reports
regarding sign-on details for all services, daily crew
performance including rest details, crew absence details,
over-due details, consolidated biodata, and payment
reports, etc.. Optimized crew-utilization and mileage
equalization among the crew became possible. It became
easier to manage crew data, training backlogs, etc. The
problems associated with manual calculation of payment
were also ruled out. All allowance calculations were
accurate and payments were timely, which saved
substantial time and effort of the staff.
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90 Srivastava
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Problems with the System
Though the Crew Management System streamlined work
at the lobbies of the Delhi Division, yet, Mr. Gupta’s
troubles were not over. Due to lack of networking, the
crew availability across the various crew lobbies of the
division was still calculated manually. Hence, forecasting
and most of the control work was still done manually
and continued to be problematic.
The Next Step: Implementation of Networked Crew
Management Modules
The main task was now to network the division.
Networking the division was a challenge since Crew
Lobby networking over large distances had not been tried
anywhere else over the Indian Railways. Mr. Gupta
chalked-out a step-wise plan.
The First phase involved verifying the software’s
network connectivity and adaptability features before
proceeding with hardware purchase. The connectivity
was verified on railnet, the leased line for the railways,
between Shakur Basti (SSB) and Power Control, New
Delhi, using the existing hardware. The server was placed
at PRC, NDLS (New Delhi) and client at Shakur Basti.
The Big Challenge
With the first phase successfully over, Mr.Gupta decided
to go ahead to the Second Phase: Lobby Networking.
The biggest challenge was networking:
1. Railnet was not a viable option because of
insufficient bandwidth. Trials between SSB-NDLS
indicated a severe bandwidth restriction and
inordinately high time was taken in data transfer. It
was observed that a minimum of 64 kbps was
required for a workable speed of data transfer.
Moreover, railnet was available only at New Delhi,
Old Delhi and Shakur Basti. JHI, MTC and DEE
[Annexure 1] were not connected on Railnet. It
seemed that a sturdier option was required.
2. Cost of networking was another constraint. Solutions
with fixed and low periodic costs were preferred
because amount of data transfer would be huge and
network engagement would be high.
Networking the Division
In order to handle this, Mr. Gupta’s boss advised him to
break the problem into two parts: Wireless Networking
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in Delhi Area and Remote Location Networking. He
decided to develop an exclusive WAN for the four
locations in Delhi area (DLI, NDLS, SSB and DEE).
Remote areas were decided to be connected through
VPN, VSAT or ISDN etc to the WAN.
Wireless Networking in Delhi Area
“Connecting the lobbies in Delhi area is not a problem”,
thought Mr. Gupta. He decided to take advantage of
delicensing of 2.4 GHz bandwidth by DOT and went in
for Wireless Networking in DLI Area. Towers were
erected at the four locations in DLI area (DLI, NDLS,
SSB and DEE) and radio transmitters installed. NDLS
was the central location with direct access to DLI and
DEE. A repeater for SSB was installed at DEE because
no direct line of sight was available.
Remote location networking still continued to pose
greater challenges. The aim was to have uninterrupted
connectivity at required bandwidth with minimal, if not
fixed, running costs. The following options were tried:
1. Virtual Private Network (VPN) - Connectivity could
be established through VPN on dialup internet but
the bandwidth available was insufficient.
2. VSAT installations were set up at on a trial basis at
JHI in association with M/s HCL Comnet. This
technology was the same as that being used for
nationwide ATMs. Years of successful use had made
it a viable option. Though connectivity was
established, sufficient bandwidth could not be
obtained.
3. Available DOT telephone lines at JHI and MTC
were converted into ISDN lines. Connectivity was
established and workable bandwidth was available
on which crew booking modules could operate
satisfactorily. To reduce costs, one PC each at JHI
and MTC were converted into local servers. Now,
ISDN connectivity was used only for viewing reports
for monitoring purposes. All time connectivity was
not provided in order to cut down costs. The system
allowed periodical reports to be stored in the local
server, to be downloaded as per requirement.
Present Status and Further Action to be Taken
Another six months had passed. The mechanical power
wing now had a network with a bandwidth of 2 Mbps
exclusively for its use. The entire networking was
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 Crew Management in Indian Railways: A Case of Delhi Division1 91 ●

completed in just Rs.4,00,000. The running cost was
almost nil with no recurring costs such as rental, etc.
All lobbies were now computerized and networked
with PRC, New Delhi. Jakhal was the only exception
since no crew was headquartered there and therefore a
crew database could not be created. The modules for crew
booking were working smoothly and were connected to
the PRC. Even after providing bandwidth for crew
booking module, sufficient space was available. At a
minimal cost increase video conferencing facility could
be incorporated. Surprise breath analyzer tests could now
be conducted in full view and this had bolstered safety
aspects. Cameras were installed in all lobbies and PRC
and full duplex video-conferencing facility was made
available. This was the first case of such long-distance
wireless network including video-conferencing over
Indian Railways.
Mr. Gupta was in a dilemma. He had achieved a lot.
But he also knew that the introduction of Information
System in any organization was not a one-time task. With
ever-changing technology, anything that was new today
would very soon become obsolete. Only one year was
left for him at this post, since in the Railways officers
had tenured postings. He wondered whether his successor
would be able to upgrade the system further. He
wondered how he could make the system robust enough
to endure people and technology changes.
Questions
1. Was getting the MIS such a good idea?
2. What should Mr. Gupta do next to improve the
results and to enhance the system?
3. If Crew Lobby networking was the solution, what
were the challenges facing Mr. Gupta?
4. Which networking technology would best suit future
requirements?
5. What were the difficulties faced by Mr. Gupta in
setting up an IS?
6. Based on this case, comment on the organizational
culture of the Railways.
7. How can Information Systems sustain technological
and human changes?

ANNEXURE 1

HISTORY OF DELHI DIVISION

The DRM (Divisional Railway Manager) heads the Delhi Division. Serving Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh,
Delhi Division has a route kilometerage of 1192.95 Kms with 158 stations. It handles 496 Passenger carrying
trains and 210 Freight trains everyday. The original station to serve the capital of India, Delhi Junction came into
existence in April 1864 when a temporary building was constructed. At that time nobody could have imagined
that the station designed to deal with 100 passengers a day would ultimately have to deal with 1,00,000 passengers
per day. Planning for construction of the present building commenced in 1890. The station was built in the style
of the Mughal period, resembling both mosque and fortress. It could be used a hotel as well as a shelter during
emergencies, with provision for security personnel gaining rapid access to the top in order to take up defensive
positions. This was an important consideration for the British as the neighboring Chandni Chowk area was the
epicenter of political activity.
Delhi Division generates the highest revenue of all the Divisions of Northern Railway, amounting to around
Rs. 746 lakhs everyday. Of this Rs. 456 lakhs comes from the 7.4 lakhs passengers booked every day while Rs.
222 lakhs comes from freight.

Crew Lobbies under administrative control of Delhi Division

JHL Jakhal DEE Delhi Sarai Rohilla
JHI Jind DLI Old Delhi
SSB Shakur Basti MTC Meerut City

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ANNEXURE 2

ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

General Manager
DRMs
Delhi
Addl.General Manager
DRMs
Lucknow
SDGM CDM CCM COS CSO
DRMs
Vigliance Operating Commercial Stores Safety
Moradabad

CE CME CEE DRMs

Civil Engineering Mechanical Engineering Electrical Engineering Firozpur

DRMs
Ambala
CSC CMD CAD(C) FA&C&O CPO
Security Medical Construction Accounts Personnel

CSTE CPRO
Signal & Telecommunication Public Relations

Divisional Rly. Manager

Add. Divisional Rly. Add. Divisional Rly.

Chief Traffic Manager Chief Medical Spuds.
Manager (Operation) Manager (Technical)

Sr. Divisonal Sign. & Sr. Divisonal

Sr. Divisional
Operational Manager
Sr. Divisional
Operational Manager
(Planning)
Divisional Mechanical
Engineer (Operation)
Sr. Divisional Elec-
trical Engineer (RSO)
Telecom Engineer Personal Officer Sr. Divisonal
Commercial Manager
Sr. Divisonal Sr. Divisonal
Mechanical Engineer/ Account Officer
C&W, Goods, liason DTM/ Shatabdi
Sr. Divisonal Security
Divisonal Sign. Engineer/ Commissioner
I, II, III, IV, E, C DCM/ Catering
Sr. Divisonal Electrical Eng-
ineer TRD., Chg., G, EMU, Loco
Sr. Divisonal
Controller of Stores

Sr. Divisonal Mechanical

Engineer/ SSB, TKD

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 Crew Management in Indian Railways: A Case of Delhi Division1 93 ●

ANNEXURE 3

HOURS OF EMPLOYMENT REGULATIONS FOR RUNNING STAFF

Salient Features of Hours of Employment Regulation for Running Staff (Traffic and Loco)
a. Hours of work –As a general rule, duties of running staff are classified as continuous. Statutory limit for hours
of employment of such staff has been fixed at 54 hrs a week on an average in a month
b. Duty Hours – Duty hours of running staff is counted from Signing On to Signing off. Time allowed for taking
over and making over forms part of their duty hours.
c. The overall duty at a stretch for running staff from signing on should not ordinarily exceed 12 hrs and they are
entitled to claim relief thereafter. The running duty should not ordinarily exceed 10 hrs from the departure of
the train and the staff should be entitled to claim relief thereafter. However, in operational and exceptional
exigencies (Accidents, floods, agitations, equipment failures etc) staff may work beyond these limits.
d. Rest for Running Staff – Rest is based on total duty performed on a particular trip.
i. Rest at Headquarters
1. 12 hrs when duty performed is less than 8 hrs.
2. 16 hrs when duty performed is 8 hrs or more.
ii. Rest at Outstation:
1. 06 hrs when duty performed is less tan 9 hrs.
2. 08 hrs when duty performed is 9 hours or more
e. Periodic Rest – In one calendar month, periodic rest may be given to running staff in the following manner:
4 periods of rest of not less than 30 consecutive hrs each, or 5 periods of rest of not less than 22
consecutivehrs each.
Such rest should be given at headquarters and must include a full night in bed (2200hrs to 0600hrs).
f. Away from headquarters – Running staff should not normally be away from headquarters for more than 3 to
4 days at a stretch.
g. Waiting for duty – The time during which a running staff is waiting for duty, and not resting, should be
included in the hours of employment
h. Continuous night duty – Night duty should not exceed six nights at a stretch.
i. Overtime –Normally a staff should be made to perform 104 cumulative hours of duty in a 14 day fortnightly
period. In case his duty hours exceed 104 hrs he is entitled to overtime allowance.
j. If a person is sent as spare on jobs, only the duration from train arrival to train departure is to be include in his
HOER list whereas in normal duty sign on to sign off duration is considered.
k. If a staff has to stay outstation for more than 16 hrs, he is entitled to one unit of overrest allowance which is
equal to a credit of 70 kms. Progressively, for every additional twenty four hrs, he is entitled for one more unit
of overrest allowance.
l. A Shunter, if sent outstation for shunting duty purposes gets one unit of outstation allowance (70 kms) if he is
stopped at the outstation administratively for every additional day of stay.

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NOTES
1. Running rooms—waiting rooms for the running staff to rest between shifts.
2. Crew booking lobbies—offices where the running staff sign-in or sign-off from their duty.
3. Locations within the division where fuelling of diesel locomotives took place.
4. The division had a few steam engines for running the Heritage Steam Trains over short distances for tourists.
These trains and locomotives were maintained at the Heritage Steam Care Centre at Rewari.

Vandana Srivastava, (vandana.srivastava@iilm.in) is associated with IILM Institute for almost two years, teaching various courses
of Information Management to students of PGDM. She has over seven years experience in teaching Physics and Computer Science at
undergraduate and postgraduate levels at Punjab, K.C College, Mumbai and Ansal Institute of Technology, Gurgaon. Her areas of
interest include Analysis and Design of Information Systems, Artificial Intelligence and Neural Networks. Her research interests lie in
Quality in IT enabled services and Inter-organizational Information Systems.

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