Quality Management and Passenger Satisfaction in Indian Railways: A Critical Review of Stations, Offices, IRCTC, Workshops, and an On-Ground Survey of Sabarmati Diesel Loco Shed

Abstract

Railways is an integral part of everyday lives and a significant contributor to the Indian economy, and also the public who choose the railways as a medium of travel is highly dependent on it to go places. The railway is a vast sector. It has one of the enormous workforces globally and is the biggest employer in various sectors, from catering services to ticketing offices, from engineering services to cleaning services. Indian Railways has been implementing intelligent systems or model of work which is supposed to improve working efficiency or passenger satisfaction. The official’s motivation also depends on the complexities inside the office, which should be the least. The cleanliness at stations, IRCTC services, Railway technology updates, regular maintenance of locomotives or coaches, and many other factors contribute to passenger satisfaction. Since a significant portion of the Indian population prefers traveling via the railways, from lower-income, middle income, and even high-income individuals. This review presents a transparent scenario of the current developments in various parts of the Indian Railways (stations, offices, IRCTC, Locomotive shed & workshops), current requirements to be addressed, and appropriate future directions for research and development in the railways.