Chairmen, Railway Board, Shri Arunendra Kumar has called upon all railwaymen to focus on providing Indian Railway customers a pleasant experience in their interaction with the Railways in both passenger and freight segments. In a New Year greeting message sent to all fellow railway colleagues, Shri Arunendra Kumar pointed out that ‘Service with a smile’ was never so relevant as it is today. Shri Kumar also said that there is a need to earnestly endeavour to meet our motto communicated by Hon’ble Minister of Railways – ‘No loss of life’ in train operations.                   

                   Following are the excerpts from his message sent to all railway employees:-

                   “I thank you all for your continued commitment to Indian Railways and wish you and your family a Happy & Prosperous New Year.

                   In the year 2013, we have achieved visible milestone. The opening of the Pir Panjal tunnel has provided the long awaited Rail connectivity to the Kashmir valley. A new Rail Coach Factory at Rae Bareilly has come on stream. We have joined the select Billion tonne freight club and we continue to be the single largest passenger carrier in the world.

                   So far this year, we have seen a growth of 8.8% in freight earnings and 18% in passenger earnings over the corresponding period of the previous year. Yet the pace needs to pick up further. At the same time our customer segments cut across al strata of society. The challenge before us is to meet the rising passenger expectations in the face of financial constraints. More is expected of us.

                   The ‘efficiency’ in work must go hand in hand with effectiveness’. Often, we are caught up in routine schedules and as a result, ignore the larger picture. It is important to keep the vision in mind.

                   Our focus and mission is clear: the earnings of Indian Railways have to go up. Expenses need to be contained. We need to prioritise. Our passengers should get value for money. Our resources are limited and hence the need for judicious allocation of resources. We need to deliver quality and on time. We need innovative financing models. We need to bring in investments by demonstrating success in our PPP initiatives and in our flagship Dedicated Freight Corridor Project. We ought to demonstrate transparency in our dealings. We need to earnestly endeavour to meet our motto communicated by the Hon’ble Minister of Railways-‘No loss of life’ in train operations. While striving to achieve this we have to maintain a human face.

                   To meet these challenges the biggest strength is our competent human resource capital. The Railwaymen have traditionally been our inherent strength. Our industrial relations have been exemplary- a model for other organisations. We need to nurture this and together we can.

                   In the New Year our emphasis, then, should be to focus on providing our customers with a pleasant experience in their interaction with the Railways-be it passenger or freight. ‘Service with a smile’ was never so relevant as it is today”.

AKS/HK/DK