Plane or Ship Captain! Now Southern Railways has ‘Train Captain’?
Mangaluru: We all have heard about Captain of the Ship or Captain of the Plane, but have you heard anything about Captain of a Train on Southern Railway? Now for the First time, the concept of Train Captain was introduced by Southern Railway during the weekend on Thiruvananthapuram-Chennai Central Mail. The move was aimed at providing a one-point contact for passengers to get their grievances redressed. And Anoop Kumar is the first Train Captain on this Mangaluru Central-Chennai Central Super Fast Mail.
With a view to having a single point of contact for all guidance, assistance and grievance redressal for on board train passengers, Southern Railways has come out with the novel concept of a ‘Train Captain’ in trains. The initiative was launched after Southern Railway chief commercial manager Ajith Saxena found that grievances of commuters on trains were not being addressed, in spite of the existing helpline numbers and presence of police personnel on board. The train captain will travel from the source to the destination and will be the one-point contact for passengers.
R. Anoop Kumar, Chief Ticket Inspector attached to the Kannur Depot of Southern Railway’s Palakkad Division, was a little bit nervous on Monday as he was ordained to be the Train Captain on train no. 12602, Mangaluru Central-Chennai Central SuperFast Mail. Having 26 years of experience as a ticket inspector/ examiner, Kumar, however, was confident of manning the train from Mangaluru till Chennai addressing issues of passengers. Though feeling relaxed as he need not check tickets as in the usual course, the senior officer was meticulously planning the way he can handle the new job. As his mobile phone number was made available to all passengers through the reservation chart and individual SMS to passengers, Kumar could easily be contacted by the passengers for any problems, clarifications or any other matter.
With a team of five travelling ticket examiners and other staff on board the train, Kumar said passengers could expect enhanced comfort during their journey. If he was unable to resolve any issue on the spot, Kumar could contact senior officers either at the divisional or at the zonal level for relief, the officer said. Leaving Mangaluru at 1.25 p.m on Monday., the Chennai Mail would reach the destination at 5.40 a.m. the next day. Kumar would again captain train no.12601, Chennai Central-Mangaluru Central SuperFast Mail on Tuesday (today) that leaves at 8.20 p.m. to reach Mangaluru at 12.25 p.m. on Wednesday. He would get two days rest thereafter.
Mangaluru-Chennai Mail is one among the six trains on which Southern Railway has introduced the system- Train captains will be available on train no. 12623/624 Thiruvananthapuram Central-Chennai Central-Thiruvananthapuram Central Mail; train no. 12637/638 Chennai Egmore-Madurai-Chennai Egmore Pandian Express; train no. 16177/178 Chennai Egmore-Thiruchchirapalli-Chennai Egmore Rockfort Express, train no. 12671/672 Chennai Central-Mettupalayam-Chennai Central Nilgiri (Blue Mountain) Express and Train no. 12624 Thiruvananthapuram Central-Chennai Central Mail.
Speaking to Team Mangalorean, a Railways official said the names and numbers of the train captain will be displayed on all the reservation charts in the coaches. In the near future, it’s been planned to send all passengers of the particular train details of the train captain via text messages. Passengers can also contact railway helpline 138 to know the details about the train captain. If the captain is unable to resolve any issue, he/ she will intimate senior officers. The train captain will be overall in charge of the train, from be responsible for ensuring passenger amenities, including the availability of water, cleanliness of coaches/toilets, working of electrical fittings such as fan, light, mobile charging points, etc.
