SERVICE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

INDIAN RAILWAY PASSENGER SERVICES

04/10/2023

1

K.KEERTHI(DM14229)

INTRODUCTION Railways were first introduced to India in 1853. By 1947, there were forty-two

rail systems. In 1951 the systems were nationalized, thus Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world.

Indian Railways has 114,500 km of total track over a route of 65,000 km and 7,500 stations. It has the world's fourth largest railway network after those of United States, Russia and China.

The railways carry over 30 million passengers and 2.8 million tons of freight daily. It is the world's 2nd largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with more than 1.36 million employees.

Indian Railways operates long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi gauge network of broad, meter and narrow gauges.

It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities. As for rolling stock, IR owns over 240,000 (freight) wagons, 60,000 coaches and 9,000 locomotives.

PRODUCT OFFERING: Passenger services Freight services

04/10/2023

2

SERVICE CONCEPT

SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM

OPERATING STRATEGY

SERVICE VALUE DEFINITION-

safe and dependable train

services

04

/10/2

023

3

Festival and seasonal special trains

Model and modern stations

Pension facilities for employees

Different modes of booking

Availability of facilities according to different classes

Covering 115000 km of total track with 7500 trains

Notified standard for various services

courteous & efficient counter service

adequate passenger amenities

responsive and effective grievance redressal

INPUTS PROCESS OUTPUT

Engine Announcement of trains Passenger journey

Boogies Train arrival Arrival

Human resources Passenger arrival Porter services

Technology Porter services Ticket check

Electricity PNR status check Passenger departure

Power Boarding Passenger Journey experience

Tack Train departure

Ticket booking Ticket checking

Stations Train services as per the Class

Catering facilities Security check

First aid facilities

Security

Maintenance of train

Maintenance of station

Engineering & Mechanical

Laundry

04/10/2023

4

SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM

CUSTOMER MANAGEMEN

T:

•24*7 Customer service – in the form of SMS or Call

•E-ticketing for reserved segment and Janasadharan ticket booking sewaks and Gramin ticketing booking sewaks for unreserved segment

•automated PNR status •Complaints and suggestions taken from customers

•Porter facility •Security arrangement on board the trains

•Provision of catering services•Waiting Hall facility•Model and Modern stations- for provision of upgraded passenger amenities

•Facilities for physically challenged

•Break van facility –for excess luggage

EMPLOYEE

MANAGEMENT:

•Pension facilities for retired staff

•Pass entitlements: Free travel facilities

•Leave entitlements: 15 days- Leave on average pay, 10 days- Leave on Half average pay, 8 days- Casual leave

•Medical facilities: Free medical treatment for serving and retired employees

•Accommodation: Quarters facility

•Railways schools for employee’s children, Scholarships for technical education under staff benefit

04/10/2023

5

QUALITY MANAGEMENT

•Maintenance of trains

•Maintenance of Stations

•Frequents surprise Inspections by higher officials

•Complaint forum in Online portal

CAPACITY PLANNING:

•Special trains on festivals

•Seasonal trains

•Tatkal booking

•Increasing the number of trains

•Increasing the number of boogies

FACILITY PLANNING:

•Availability of different Classes

•Security facility in train

•Medical facilities

•Catering services

04/10/2023

6

SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM Contd’

LOCATION PLANNING

:

•Divided into sixteen divisions

•114,500 Km of total track over a route of 65,ooo Km and 7500 trains

PROCESS

PLANNING:

•E-ticket, I-ticket, direct- ticket booking available

•Availability of cancellation and re-booking, tatkal booking

•Porter services•Waiting Halls•Automated Display of

schedule•Automated

announcement of departure

•Reservation Chart preparation

•Display of platform numbers, display of coach numbers on the platform

•Catering services

04/10/2023

7

SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM Contd’

QUALITY MANAGEMENT

1.SERVICE QUALITY ATTRIBUTES

04/10/2023

8

•Railways are accurate in Record Keeping. •Railways are accurate in timing of Trains. •Railways performs Service Correctly. •When you have problems Railways shows sincere interest in solving it.

•Railways adheres to punctuality of Trains.

RELIABILITY

•Indian Railways is trustworthy. •You feel safe in your travel. •Railway employees are courteous with customers. •Railway employees have knowledge to answer customer questions.

ASSURANCE

•Railway staffs tell exactly when services will be performed. •Railway employees give prompt service to customers. •Railway employees are always willing to help. •Railway employees are never too busy to respond to customer requests.

RESPONSIVENESS

•Railways give individual attention. •Railway operations are convenient to passengers. •Railway employees give personnel attention. •It is easy to plan a railway journey.

EMPATHY

•Railway has modern looking equipment & infrastructure at stations and trains.

•2. Railways Physical Facilities like Lighting, seating and Toilets are OK.

•3. Staffs of Railways are neat in Appearance. •4. Time Tables, Display Boards etc are visually appealing.

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

04/10/2023

9

SERVICE QUALITY ATTRIBUTES Contd’

2. SERVICE QUALITY GAP ANALYSIS

Tang

ibles

Reliability

Respo

nsive

ness

Assur

ance

Empa

thy

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Perception Avg. Expectation Avg.

04/10/2023

10

Dimension

Perception Avg.

Expectation Avg.

Tangibles 2.92 5.68

Reliability 2.8 6.05

Responsiveness 2.9 5.45

Assurance 3.61 5.87

Empathy 2.96 5.5

Gap in the Reliability is higher which means, it is Railway’s weakest dimension.

The most important dimension is Reliability.

The least important dimension is Responsiveness.

The most satisfying dimension is Assurance.

The least satisfying dimension is Reliability.

04/10/2023

11

SERVICE QUALITY GAP ANALYSIS Contd’

PROCESS PLANNING

FACTORY SHOP

Mass Service PROFESSIONAL

04/10/2023

12

Capital Intensive

Labor Intensive

CustomizationLow High

Railways

1.SERVICE CLASSIFICATION

2.PROCESS STRATEGY

Boarding stage

Journey stage

Arrival

04/10/2023

13

Process Type F.O/B.O

Booking counter Runner F.O

Data base and reservation system Runner B.O

Issue of ticket Runner F.O

Porter services Runner F.O

Reservation chart preparation Runner B.O

Laundry Runner B.O

Security Runner B.O

Maintenance of station Runner B.O

Maintenance of Train Runner B.O

CORE PROCESS

SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESS

3.SERVICE BLUE PRINT

04

/10

/20

23

14

Serv

ice

and

scri

pts Enquiry

stageReservation System

Boarding Stage Journey Stage Arrival at the station

Physi

cal

evid

ence

cust

om

er

Conta

ct

(Vis

ible

)In

vis

ibl

e

Pro

ces

s

Booking Counter, Sound and Tone of the representative

Booking Counter, Sound and Tone of Person and ticket

Seats, toilets, windows, cleanliness-

The list Of Passenger

Railway Station, Voice of Announcements, Train appearance

Food, pillows & sheets

Ticket checker uniform, list of other passengers

Noise of the trains, tracks and signals

Tea stall, Announcements of trains

Enquiry Board the train

Journey start

Gets Ticket checked

Receive Food and facilities

Arrives at destination and hires a coolie

Check PNR status

Arrives at the station

and hires coolie if required

Reservation

Gives Required Info.

Ticket checker checked ticket

Deliver food and bedding

Takes the bag to the taxi

Take the Bags to the boogie

Issue the ticket

Driver starts the train

Preparation of list and putting at required places

Invis

ibl

e

Pro

ces

s

Database and reservation system

Rail traffic operator

Provide with list of passengers and other info

Prepare food and clean the bed

Delay in arrivals and departures of trains.

Poor Railway traffic management.

Poor catering facilities inside the train.

Poor condition of tangibles inside the train as well as on the stations.

Only one track in many regions.

Difficulty in purchasing tickets at the counters.

Poor capacity utilization.

Frequent failure of server for online booking.

Poor and last moment management of waitlisted tickets.

Unethical behavior of ticket collectors.

04/10/2023

15

The following bottlenecks were observed in the blueprinting:

4. METRICS

Process Standard

Announcement of trains 10-15 min in advance of arrival

Train arrival On time

Train departure On time

Ticket checking 3 min

Booking counter 5 min

Issue of ticket 2 min

Reservation chart preparation For trains that departure before 12:00 noon, chart should be prepared before 08:00PM of previous day. For trains after 12:00 noon, should be prepared before four hours

04/10/2023

16

CAPACITY PLANNING

Capacity is created (or destroyed) by a host of factors, all interrelated.

Capacity is not only infrastructure issue but rolling stock, motive power, employees and operating

strategies (size of trains, speed of trains, timing of trains, etc.) are all part of Capacity.

capacity constraints:•shortage of coaches•overcrowded trains•low space capacity•old and outdated seats

Demand is large and shortage of time, labor and facilities make the problem worse.

we need to identify demand patterns for different capacity constraints.

04/10/2023

17

Travelling in peak hours is especially high. Non-frequent travelers also prefer to travel in nights to save the day time for work. Demand patterns can be analyzed using large available data with Indian railways.

For increasing infrastructure as well as maintaining the existing infrastructure, labor is a must require input. Labor supply is not same every time and is dependent on the business cycle.

Demand for facilities may increase due to delay in arriving time of trains at station, weather conditions, frequent travelling etc. Variables like weather conditions cannot be controlled, so we see a random demand fluctuation in use of facilities

04/10/2023

18

Capacity Constraints Demand patterns

Time Charting demand patterns

Labor Predictable cycles

Facilities Random demand fluctuation

CAPACITY PLANNING Contd’

RECOMMENDATIONS

There is a strong need to bring some private player into catering services to enhance the quality of catering.

Proper mechanism of maintaining time table should be implemented to enhance the punctuality.

More no. of ticket counters should be built, duration of booking should be increased also.

Ticket booking staffs need to work very efficiently and should be given proper training to deal with passengers.

Capacity of its existing online booking server should be increased

04/10/2023

19

Analyzed various bottlenecks present in the entire service delivery system can be eliminated by :

Railways needs to enhance the conditions of seats in the compartment and need to maintain proper sanitation.

Railways needs to work a lot to manage its demand and capacity by proper utilization of their resources. .

Proper monitoring of unethical behavior of railway employees should be there.

04/10/2023

20

RECOMMENDATIONS Contd’

Nature of Constraints How to overcome it?

Time Increasing the frequency of trains at peak times Enhancing speed and safety

Labor Maintaining proper supply of labor Replacing machines with human labor.

Facilities Availability of monthly passes and quarterly passes, Concession for students Cleanliness

04/10/2023

21

To manage Capacity:

RECOMMENDATIONS Contd’

Developing Complementary services- Collaborating with hotel industry especially for tourist spots. Improving the catering

facilities by involving private players.

Promoting off-Peak demand- Lowering fares for special occasions and off-peak season. Introducing special discounts on

purchase of bulk tickets.

Modifying timing and location of service delivery- Improvising upon the running schedule of each train. Timely modification in

extended routes of different trains.

Stretch time, labor, facilities and equipment- Maximum utilization of the current capacity to enhance the tangible

facilities in the train as well as on the stations.

04/10/2023

22

Following strategies can be adopted for managing demand to match capacity:

RECOMMENDATIONS Contd’