Newly-appointed Railway Board chairman Ashwani lohani on Tuesday said that safety will be the focus area of the Indian Railways, which is at a critical juncture and faces an “image perception” problem. In a letter to railway employees, lohani said that Indian Railways had suffered a "serious dent" in the recent past due to "certain unfortunate incidents".
"At this critical juncture when we are facing a serious issue with the image perception of the railways, I expect all my fellow railwaymen to pitch in wholeheartedly to set this perception right," lohani wrote.
"We have to always be on our guard to ensure the highest level of safety in train operations and instill a renewed sense of confidence in our esteemed passengers.
The great Indian railways has suffered a serious dent in the recent past due to certain unfortunate incidents. Such incidents often overshadow the great work that this organisation performs day in and day out," he said.
He also identified quality of catering, linen and cleanliness, which he said was crying for attention, as other areas of concern and stressed on the need to adopt a mission mode to bring improvements in a very short time.
"Our operating ratio needs to be brought down considerably, not only by reducing expenditure but by increasing freight loading and also finding other means of non-conventional revenue generation to achieve a spurt in re enues," he added.