One in two Indian train travelers worried about safety, delays, cleanliness: LocalCircles survey

Hyderabad: A new survey has revealed that one in two train travelers are worried about safety, delays, cleanliness, and hygiene.

A survey conducted by LocalCircles revealed that over 59% of train travelers are concerned about derailment and track maintenance, while 68 percent flagged cleanliness issues.

This comes against the backdrop of the recent accident in which two people were killed, and over 20 were injured when 18 coaches of the Mumbai-Howrah Mail derailed near Badabamboo, around 80 km from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand on July 30.

The e-survey received over 61,000 responses from citizens located in 378 districts of India. 62% of respondents were men while 38% of respondents were women. 42% of respondents were from tier 1, 32% were from tier 2 and 26% of respondents were from tier 3, 4, and rural districts.

Major concerns

Despite government assurance that funds from both public and private are being utilized to improve railway infrastructure, the survey has found that social media is flooded with passengers voicing complaints almost every day about the food served on board.

Food on trains is handled in an unhygienic way, including food trays being kept outside the lavatories/ outside wash basins near the exit doors even in high-priced trains, the dirty toilets, and lack of cleanliness.

Passengers in reserved AC compartments face the problem of ticketless travelers not only occupying their berth with impunity but also harassing them.

Complaints on several counts including safety, hygiene, and stopping of senior citizen’s concession.

What did the Survey say?

As per the survey, of the total of 13,854 passengers, most of them complained about cleanliness, hygiene, and concession removal.

The data shows that 68% of passengers are not happy with the cleanliness and hygiene of trains.

55% of passengers have groused about the government's move to remove concessions at the onset of the COVID lockdown in March 2020 to curb unnecessary travel. While most concessions have been restored, senior citizens are still waiting to be restored in the categories of those being given rail travel concessions.

Late running of trains or timeliness is another area of complaint indicated by 48% of respondents.

61% have complained about the quality of food served onboard trains.

22% have complaints about the ticketing/refund process.

42% have concerns about safety on trains.

26% have indicated other services and amenities not listed.

19% have issues with emergency assistance.

7% stated that they had none of the listed issues.

59% say they are concerned about derailment and track maintenance.

Are passengers feeling safe in trains?

Among the 13,552 who responded to the question---

80% of respondents indicated “safety from anti-social elements onboard trains.

59% indicating “derailment” of coaches from tracks”.

59% indicated “track maintenance” which can not only slow down trains but also lead to accidents.

52% cited signaling issues.

42% stated safety at railway stations.

38% stated collision with an incoming train.

31% stated other safety issues” which are not mentioned.

Cleanliness in trains:

The Indian Railways has all the facilities at major stations for cleaning the trains at the end of a journey and before the start of a new journey. Unfortunately, with most trains running late there is no time or possibly no inclination to clean the berths, cabins, or coaches. Similarly, from the state of the coaches, even in AC chair cars and sleepers, little or no maintenance work is carried out.

Some among the 10,892 who responded to the question had more than one issue with ---

68% pointing to dirty toilets which persist despite the installation of eco-friendly toilets on some of the major trains.

46% pointed to the No or rare cleaning during the journey.

42% complained about missing or full dustbins with the result that passengers find excuses to litter the compartment.

41% pointed to the problem of pests and insects in coaches.

36% complained about dirty coaches.

32% indicated dirty linen in AC coaches.

12% indicated the dirty pantry car in most trains.

12% of respondents have issues with poorly maintained stations.

Food, a major concern in trains

A total of 11,788 responded to this query with some having more than one issue.

55% indicated that the food quality was poor onboard the train. T

48% found the food taste also not up to expectations.

30% have an issue with how it is unhygienically stored & distributed.

7% shared that they fell sick after consuming food served on board the train.

Delay of trains

Focusing on the delay aspect, some among 11,098 who responded to the question indicated more than one issue with--

48% indicating that the railways are providing “misleading information, the big difference between status shown/told and reality as far as arrival time.

The data shows that 48% have issues with somewhat delayed trains.

29% pointed to trains being excessively delayed for whatever reason.

19% are upset about delays due to VIPs.

Train crashes

Despite government claims of spending large amounts on improving the operation of trains and passenger safety, several accidents, big and small, continue to happen.

On July 18, four people died and several were injured after 21 coaches of the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express derailed in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh.

On June 17, around 15 people died and 60 were injured when a goods train collided with the Sealdah-bound Kanchenjunga Express near Rangapani station in West Bengal.

In 2023, nearly 300 people were killed and over 1,000 injured in the triple-train crash in Balasore, Odisha.

Budget allocations:

Over the past few years, poor management, inadequate signaling, and safety systems and maintenance have been blamed for many of the railway accidents. Recognizing the need for better focus on these aspects, the Indian railways have been allocated Rs 2.62 lakh crore in the Union Budget for 2024-25 out of which Rs 1.08 lakh core will be utilized on safety-related activities.

“This is a record allocation for Indian railways. Of the total

Allocation, Rs 1.08 lakh crore will be used for safety-related activities such as replacement of old tracks, improve signaling system, installation of Kavach (accident warning) system, construction of flyovers and underpasses,” said Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav.

Why is Indian Railways moving off track?

The latest review of train derailments between 2017-18 and 2020-21 by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), has found a deficiency in the maintenance of tracks, deviation of track parameters beyond permissible limits, and bad driving and overspeeding.

The audit report found a huge shortfall in inspection by Track Recording Cars (TRCs) in the range of 30% to 100%. The CAG report states that the inspection by TRCs is necessary for the objective assessment of the geometry and components of tracks. In the absence of this essential task, the track machines remained idle for want of required traffic blocks by the operating departments, divisions not planning the blocks, and operational issues.

According to the report, the allotment of funds for track renewal works and the expenditure on high-priority works from the rail Sanrakshan Kosh (RRSK) showed a declining trend during 2017-2020. The funds allocated to track renewal works were also not fully utilized. There was an incorrect booking of expenditure to RRSK to the tune of Rs 48.21 crore. Out of 1,127 derailments during 2017-21, 289 derailments (26%) were linked to track renewals.