Early morning is as tranquil as it can be at Secunderabad railway station. Amid the announcement of arrival and departure of trains, sanitation workers sweep the station, while passengers lug their baggage onto the platforms. The popular East Coast Express onward to Howrah chugs into platform one. Even as everyone clambers in, there is a certain alertness among railway officers and police scanning the area.
Minutes before the train moves, South Central Railway General Manager Vinod Kumar Yadav enters the station and quietly slips into the last bogie. The train starts as he settles into his seat, with Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Amit Vardhan and other officers opening their respective diaries. The window blinds rise, exposing the rear of the train, the track and the surrounding spaces.
The train hurtles past the station and passes the outskirts, picking up speed towards Ghatkesar. “The tracks look clean and the maintenance is good,” says the GM, who until then has been poring through the track geometry index and other details. “Otherwise, by now, you would have noticed exaggerated movement of the train with jerks,” he says, probing the engineers seated behind him on the quality parameters being followed.
“We have put extra effort into cleaning the track and the surrounding areas outside the stations too. It has been made part of our maintenance as we noticed a lot of garbage gets dumped from trains as they are near stations,” he says.
Mr. Vinod Kumar is travelling in his official inspection saloon, a full wagon modified into different sections where window trailing is done, and it has a two-berth coupe with attached loo for his secretary, his own coupe with attached loo, followed by a dining hall with a sofa and satellite TV, and a small servant coupe and kitchen. The track viewing section has instruments indicating the speed of the train and temperature among other things.
“We can take an entire train if need be, and at all the divisions, a saloon is kept ready. I try to inspect track and rail-related infrastructure work at least once a month,” he says.
“We need to carefully balance our maintenance work with the running time of trains with proper coordination and quick decisions,” he says, as engineers put forth maps indicating where Mission Bhagiratha pipelines are being laid crossing the tracks.
Mr. Yadav keeps a watch on overhead electric traction, alertness at level crossings, signalling by staff at stations en route, while being briefed about new initiatives like mobile tracking of trackmen, scientific ballast cleaning and others. Half-done work does not escape his gaze as he noticed that a spare maintenance track line was not removed after the pillar had come up in Khammam. He orders for cancellation and to re-tender without delay.
He alights at Jangoan and Kazipet stations where there is more than a minute’s halt, greets the guard and station staff and talks to passengers. The inspection also helps officers bring their career issues to his notice.
Mr. Yadav’s unassuming nature makes people reach out to him as he keeps prodding: “Is there any issue, please tell me.”
And true to his style, he orders lunch for all in the saloon where he expresses hope that the Indian Railways under the present leadership would reach its full potential. While he retires to his coupe to attend a few calls, the train reaches Vijayawada, half an hour early! Travelling with the GM helps!