Indian Railways – Accessibility Quotient
Negi, Abha (Ms.)
Svayam, New Delhi, India
Rawal, Shuchita (Ms.)
Svayam, New Delhi, India
National Policy for Persons with Disabilities, 2006:The National Policy recognizes that Persons with Disabilities are valuable human resource for the country and seeks to create an environment that provides them equal opportunities, protection of their rights and full participation in society.
Prologue:
India is considered as the seventh biggest country in the world in terms of area. According to records, the total area of India is estimated to be 3,287,240 square kilometer with coastline measuring 7,517 kilometer (9). Also, the population of 1210.2 million (as per Census 2011), makes it even more important to develop seamless accessible public transport.India's public transport systems are among the most heavily used in the world.The rapid growth of India’s urban population has put enormous strains on all transport systems.A quick glance at the Indian demography is enough to show the greatly enhanced pressure that it has put on all transport systems especially the railways as it still continues to be the favored mode of transport of the masses.
Indian Railways are the largest rail network in Asia and the world's second largest under one management. Criss-crossing the country's vast geographical spread, Indian Railways are a multi-gauge, multi-traction system covering over 1 lakh track kilometres,300 yards, 2300 goodsheds and 700 repair shops(7). The Indian railway carries near about 30 million passengers daily and near about 2.8 million tons of freight daily (8).
The reach and penetration to the remotest of part of the country that it enjoys clearly tilts the scales in this favor. As a result, the demand for railways is increasing year after year:
No. of Passengers (in Millions) Year / 2001-02 / 2002-03 / 2003-04 / 2004-05Railways / 5093 / 4971 / 5112 / 5475
Airlines / 1281 / 1332 / 1454 / 1817
The best statistics for public transport in India are for suburban rail, because it is centrally owned and operated by Indian Railways. As shown in graph below, suburban rail usage has sharply increased over the past five decades, with a 14-fold growth in passenger km of travel (Indian Railways 2001).
Challenges:
Yet the rapidly increasing travel demand far exceeds the required expansion, innovation and development of this mode of transport to meet the needs of the growing population let alone the needs of human diversity.In fact the whole of the public transport system has been completely overwhelmed. Overcrowding, low frequency and lack of universal design in whole of the railways system adds a debilitating aspect to travel. The most commonly cited reason by the authorities is the lack of financial resources that prevents the necessary investment in maintaining or upgrading the existing railways or even procure new coaches etc.
Similarly, even though many advanced technologies or superior designs of coaches have long been made available to people in Europe, Japan and now China, replicating or adapting those to meet the needs of people in India is far from reality despite the fact that India appears on the second position in the list of passengers carried in rail transport per year (Countries with more than 500 million passengers):
Country / Billion passengers / YearJapan / 22.67 / 2010
India / 8.03 / 2010
Germany / 1.95 / 2010
People's Republic of China / 1.86 / 2011
United Kingdom / 1.33 / 2010
France / 1.14 / 2009
Russia / 1.14 / 2009
South Korea / 1.06 / 2010
Italy / 0.64 / 2009
Spain / 0.57 / 2010
South Africa / 0.53 / 2007
Source: UIC database
In many respects, the situation in India is typical of other developing countries. The most important commonality is India’s low per-capita income—only US $2,540 in 2002, less than a tenth of the average incomes of countries in North America and Western Europe (Central Intelligence Agency 2002). With 23 percent of its urban population living in poverty, India has been forced to keep its public transport fares extremely low (6). That has sharply restricted the operating revenues of all public transport systems, making it difficult to afford even routine maintenance and vehicle replacement, let alone system modernization and expansion.
Also, With 70% (as per the Census 2011) of Indian population living in rural area the transport solutions in use have been forced to charge extremely low fares, thus having a direct impact on the earnings/operating revenues. Even the low per capita income hasa direct impact on fixing the fares and as a result public transport runs on heavily subsidized fares.
Apart from this there are a host of other challenges e.g. loose planning, overcrowding, inefficiency, lack of accountability, travel without tickets, inadequate investments that stare the Indian public transport systems in the face.
The urban population in India has increased significantly from 62 million in 1951 to 285 million in 2001 and is estimated to be around 540 million by the year 2021 and as a result lack of effective urban planning too has a direct impact on the pressure on public transport systems. Estimates for the metropolitan cities showthat approximately 80 million trips will need to be catered to per day, whereas only 37 million trips are being provided by the available rail and bus masstransport facilities (1).
In general, the larger the city size, the higher the percentage of urban trips served
by public transport in India: 30 percent in cities with population between 1 and
2 million, 42 percent for cities with populations between 2 and 5 million, and 63
percent for cities with populations over 5 million (Sreedharan 2003). Thus, the
especially rapid growth of large cities suggests a further rise in future demands for
public transport in India. As shown by figure below, however, there is substantial variation among cities of the same size category.
Furthermore, accordingto a World Bank study (2), for every extra one million people in a developing city an extra 3.5 to 4million public transport trips per day are generated. Considering the population growth in mostIndian cities, the urban transport infrastructure thus needs to be increased manifold in the decade orso, if the gap in the demand and supply has to be eliminated.
Moreover, the lack of effective planning and land-use controls has resulted in rampant sprawled development extending rapidly in all directions, far beyond old city boundaries into the distant countryside. That also has greatly increased the number and length of trips for most Indians, including those by public transport. Land use policies that encourage sprawl and growth of suburban areas too add to the woes. E.g. when governments allows higher floor space/land area ratio in suburban areas providing direct inducement to corporate and firms to move out of the city centers towards these places there by increasing the need to have an effective and efficient public transport system.
A study clearly shows that there is a change in the pattern of trip distribution; more and more trips are being made in urban areas for work, followed by education. For example, more than 60% of the total trips in Mumbai are meant for work and around 31% for education (3).
Furthermore, scatteredresidential and commercial development without necessary infrastructure like schools, colleges, hospitals and even road and rail network lead to longer trips for conducting daily chores by people. Some of the best examples would by technology parks developed around Bangalore or Gurgaon the new corporate address which necessitated the development of connecting road networks or commissioning the metro rail to connect these with rest of the city.
Need for Accessible Rail System and Current scenario:
The Constitution of India ensures equality, freedom, justice and dignity of all individuals and implicitly mandates an inclusive society for all including persons with disabilities.Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) gives disabled people a right of access to goods, facilities, services and premises.
Also, India has signed and ratified UNCRPD (United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) in the year 2007.India was the 7th country in the world and the first significant country to do so. UNCRPD is an international instrument that provides persons with disabilities the same human rights that everyone else enjoys.
Hence, an integrated transport policy, which encompasses accessible public transport, public transport infrastructure and a barrier-free pedestrian environment is fundamentally important to deliver the commitment.
Disability was included in the census for the first time in 2001, following a sustained campaign by the Indian disability movement. The census found that 2.2 per cent of the population was disabled. However, this figure is contested by organizations working in the field, which estimate India’s total disabled population at approximately six per cent or 70 million. As per the recent World Bank report, India has some 40 to 80 million people with disabilities.
The table below shows the disability data in India as per Census 2001:
Disability data for India Total disabled / Male / Female / Urban / Rural21,906,769 / 12,605,635 / 9,301 / 5,518,387 / 16,388,382
Source: Government of India (2001)
In addition to this it is alarming to note that, in India, the number of people over 80 is growing at 4% per annum whereas the population as a whole is growing at 1% per annum. UN predicts that by 2050, about 536 million Indians will be aged 50 or over. There is a strong correlation between ageing process and disability.Aging population mimics most of the problems faced by the disabled. The same can be seen in the graph below:
Hence, the growing population over 60 that is projected to reach 177 million by 2025 together with India’s population of 70 million persons with disabilities is the main reason to make accessibility of the transport system a top priority.
Illiteracy, unemployment and poverty among the disabled is high due to unavailability of accessible infrastructure and transportation. It is imperative that not only people with disability but also people with reduced mobility such as elderly, people with luggage, children, pregnant ladies, people with temporary mobility problems (fractured leg etc) etc are provided an enabling environment so that they can participate in economic activities.The Figure below gives an indication on the beneficiaries of accessible universal design: 31% population (Darcy 2006): Based on data of Australia (Darcy & Dickson 2009:2)
Indian Railways has extended a considerably large concession on the ticket for the disabled traveller and one escort travelling with them making the travel very cheap. Concession in fares is admissible to four categories of disabled persons, and that too in extreme cases. The names of these four categories and the element concession admissible are as under:
But this concession is of no use if the railway stations and rail coaches are not accessible. Therefore, it is important that the Rail Transport should be easy to access by everyone including the people with reduced mobility. Trains and stations are often difficult to use by people with various disabilities due to various reasons like steps that are difficult to negotiate for people with reduced mobility, no information to passengers regarding train arrival/departures at respective platforms, lack of appropriate directional signage to guide people, lack of trained staff available to assist disabled passengers, absence of accessible toilets and amenities like drinking water fountains, etc.
Inaccessible platforms at New Delhi and Delhi Cant. Railway Stations
The picture above showcasing the inter-platform transfer of the disabled person clearly indicates that railways have completely ignored the concern for the safety of disabled passengers. They are forced to use the railway tracks for crossing hence increasing the risk of accident.
The Indian Railways have provided a separate compartment for the disabled passengers at the end of the train next to the guard van. The coach does not facilitate independent and dignified access to a user as the component of manual assistance invariably remains due to unleveled platform.The platform floor seems to have been retiled with tactile warning blocks up to the disabled coach only. The discontinuity in the tiling poses a trip hazard for any platform user. Also, due to lack of enforcement the coach remains so crowded that it is difficult even for an abled body to get into the coach.
So called accessible coaches
In addition to the above issues with the coach for disabled, one of the other critical issue is the fact that generally this coach is aSecond class and an unreserved coach (so a disabled passenger could not reserve it).As a matter of safety and convenience a disabled person would rarely travels unreserved, therefore questioning its usability. Also, the figures released by the ministry of railways show that the number of passengers travelling in higher classes of reserved accommodation has increased by 8.95 per cent in April-June 2012 period, when compared to the corresponding period of the previous year(4). This questions the right of the person with disability to facilities that other people have.
However, the attempts made by Indian Railways to incorporate the accessibility features at some railway stations cannot be ignored. Railway station at Agra, Cantt is the best example of the same. The railway station has accessible features like earmarked parking for the wheelchair users, accessible entrance, waiting room with accessible toilet and above all inter connectivity of all the platforms with the ramp.
Accessible Features at Railway Station, Agra
Even, various changes have been made at New Delhi railway station to make it accessible such as building a ramp at the entrance for wheelchair users, accessible toilet at the platform, availability of wheelchair, special ticket counter for disabled, placement of tactile warning blocks etc.
Accessible Features at Railway Station, New Delhi
Even though efforts have been made to make these railway stations accessible but still there is a long way to go…
The Way Forward:
It is very important to ensure the equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by the persons with disabilities. The focus should be on mainstreaming them in the society.
As per the Railway Budget 2012-13, following provisions have been provided for persons with disability:
“INITIATIVES FOR DIFFERENTLY-ABLED PERSONS
Indian Railways has taken initiative to start manufacturing specially designed coaches having earmarked compartments and toilets adopted to the needs of wheel chair borne/differently-abled persons. Each differently-abled compartment provided in specified coaches has a berthing capacity for 4 passengers including two attendants along with toilet and other amenities. Indian Railways has so far manufactured 2100 such specially designed coaches. It will be the endeavour of the Railways to have one such coach in each mail/express train. Efforts are being made to ensure ease of access to platforms and other areas at stations for differently-abled persons.”
The provision for2100 specially designed coaches manufactured to meet needs of the disabled proved to be a big disappointment as special coaches only leads to further isolation of passengers with disabilities. Besides, themanagement of the special coaches is dismal. And even for the introduction of the special coaches and accessibility of platforms no time frame has been set.
There also seems to be a misconception about the abilities of the visually disabled and hearing & speech impaired passengers. It may be noted that these people can use any of the coaches if small interventionssuch as Braille marks (wherever required), properly laid tactile and guiding blocks, audible announcements etc are provided.
Hence, having a separate coach for disabled is not the solution as this actually discriminates them from the rest. The government should look forward to have coaches based on the universal design which would be accessible to all including the elderly and the disabled. This will not only enable the person with disabilities to travel in general coach but also allow their mainstreaming in the society.
It important that Government should mandate that every new coach that is acquired should have accessibility features. Also, it is important that even the existing coaches should be retrofitted to make them accessible in a time bound manner.
As noticed at most of the railway stations, ramp is generally given only at one entrance which connects only one particular platform without making the other platforms accessible. This is actually providing accessibility in isolation as it still leaves the question of accessing the other platforms as well as safety of disable passengers unanswered. It is advisable that ramp should be there on all the entrance gates of the railway station and not only this, there has to be a provision of safe inter platform transfer.
The budget 2012-13 gives the provision of “Installation of 321 escalators at important stations of which 50 will be commissioned in 2012-13”. The issue of safe inter platform transfer for persons with disability still remains unresolved. It is advisable to install elevators instead. Also, it is required to have ramps within the railway station connecting all the platforms as people can use them even in the case of electricity failure. Even, travelators are now being widely used at the airports to address this issue. Not only passengers with disability but other passengers like elderly, passengers with luggage, children, pregnant ladies, people with temporary mobility problems (fractured leg etc) etc find it easy and convenient to use elevators and travelators.
It is recommended that there has to be a designated unisex accessible toilet on each platform. Providing unisex toilet allows use by disabled people accompanied by a care taker or partner of the opposite sex. These toilets should be accessible based on universal design.
We must not ignore the rural areas and provisions should be made to make the railway stations at the rural belts accessible also. This will help in creating a barrier free country.
Maintenance and repair of the existing facilities is equally important to building brand new facilities in order to maintain the accessible environment at the railway stations. Continuing maintenance programmes helps in retaining the accessibility at much lower cost and with less disruption than if the retrofitting is done separately. Staff, particularly engineering and maintenance, should be made aware of the importance of doing this.