Human Resource Development in Indian Railways - An Overview

Abstract

Service sector in India consists of a wide variety of services such as electricity, water supply, road, rail and air transport etc which provides a vast opportunities for HRD. Indian Railways is the backbone of service sector and one of the biggest employers in India. Indian Railways is one of the gigantic public undertakings enriched with fixed assets. viz: 64015 Route Kilometers, 7030 Railway Stations while the Railway Bridges are 1,30,776 in number. About 29 percent of total route kilometers has electrification network in Indian Railways. The Indian Railways Fleet is substantial with 4963 Diesel Traction, and 3586 Electrical Traction, while 2, 11,763 Wagons, and 49110 Passenger service Vehicles. The total strength of Human Resource in Indian Railways is at 13.28 Lakhs during the year 2010-11. The Medical and Health services of employees are taken care with the help of 121 Hospitals and 586 Health units. Apart from that the 133 private hospitals recognized for medical treatment also do render the yeomen services. About 46 percent of the employees are provided with Railway Accommodation facilities. The total area of 4.31 lakhs in hectares of Land is the hallmark of Indian Railways. Indian Railways carried 19 million passengers and 2.29 million tons of freight each day during the year 2008-09. The Railway Board synchronizes of scare resources with the help of Human Resource in Indian Railways. Human resource helps not only in tapping the fixed and scare resources of organization in an effective and efficient way but also in attaining the goals of organization in a rapid manner. In fact, they are the real assets of Indian Railways. Hence, the present paper proposes to examine on Human Resource Management--A study of Indian Railways since 1950-51 to 2010-11. It concluded that the total costs of Human Resource reduce is substantial at Rs.3,273.46 crore during the above study period. In forthcoming 5 years the Human Resource strength may further decline in Indian Railways and in turn the Human Resource strength might be as low as 12 Lakhs by 2014-15.