Officials say exposure to the world-class Deutsche Bahn will instill benchmarks of best global practices in new recruits.
In a first, the current batch of railway probationers undergoing training will make a five-day trip to Germany this summer and get to know Deutsche Bahn (DB), the largest railway network in Europe, shortly before they formally begin their career.
The batch of 239 soon-to-be officers from various railway services is currently at the National Academy of Indian Railways, Vadodara. Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani met them on Tuesday for an interaction and a lecture on leadership and management. The probationers will go to Germany in groups of around 35 each starting June.
Designed as a no-frills work trip, the engagement in Berlin will see probationers staying at a budget hotel and attending all their daily activities, handheld by DB, in official attire.
The batch has 27 probationers from the Traffic Service, 13 from Railway Protection Force, 33 from Accounts, 17 from Personnel, 19 from Civil Engineering, 33 from Mechanical Engineering, 30 from Electrical Engineering, 41 from Signaling Engineering and 26 from Stores services.
Policymakers in the Railways Ministry believe this kind of exposure to a world-class railway system like DB will instill benchmarks of best global practices in the officers.
The focus of the trip will be on getting the probationers acquainted with operations, customer service, revenue generation processes, station development and safety-related activities, as well as various engineering practices that go into running such a large, technologically advanced system.
Railways currently sends only mid-career and senior level officers to global management schools like Carnegie Mellon University in the US and INSEAD in Singapore for short leadership training courses. “This is to make sure our young officers get an exposure to and familiarity with a world class railway system in Germany before they are posted,” Ashwani Lohani said.
Each batch will be accompanied by a senior railway officer, sources said.
Such tours will be permanently integrated with the process of preparing young officers for their career. “This exposure will have a tremendous positive impact on their decision-making and working style — something no previous generation of railway officers had,” said a senior railway ministry official.