Such a unique country in the world, where there is never a train late, it's late ...

Tracking services again collapsed due to cold and fog in the North India. Many trains are canceled every day, and those in progress reach their destination hours late. It has become a daily story for some passengers that they have to wait for hours on the train at the station. But there is also a country in this world, where the train goes 20 seconds before or after, then it is also considered late. Yes, we are talking about a country in Japan, where ‘time’ is not just a bell needle, but a culture. When will trains run in India on time? The history of the track in India may have begun in 1853, but the improvement in Railway Services over time still looks incomplete today. Especially in the winter season in the Northern India, trains are hours late. Causes such as fog, signal failure, track clearance occur frequently. If a passenger has to travel from Delhi to Patna, he walks and thinks it can take 18 hours instead of 12 hours. Railways talk about technical reforms from time to time, but the same is the same old. Passengers no longer trust by seeing ‘expected time’ on the Time Tortoise sign at the station. This is why Indian Railways is kept far behind in the world rankings in terms of timeliness. Japan: Where the train is never more than 36 seconds, now look at Japan. Japan trains are famous all over the world for their time. The name of the bullet train “Shinkasane” here is a record that it never lasted more than 36 seconds. It is not just a miracle of technology, but a dedicated system, responsible employee and disciplined society. Japanese people take very serious time. Whether it is school, office or railway – time is strictly followed. If a train runs with a few seconds, employees of the railroad passengers should apologize in public. Not only that, passengers also get delay certificate, so they can prove in their office or institution that the delay was not their fault. An incident: When the train opened 20 seconds ago, in November 2020, a train from Tsukuba Express line in Tokyo City Japan left at 9:44:40 instead of 9:44:40. This difference seems to hear very little, but the Japanese railways consider it a serious decline and the railway authorities have an excuse. Some passengers missed the train and others missed the train at the next station. The incident again introduced the ‘time ethics’ of Japanese Railways as an example before the whole world. Can India do that too? The question arises- can India also reach timeliness as Japan? The answer is – yes, but only technical reforms for this are not enough. For this, discipline, honesty and accountability are needed from the bottom to the top of the railway system. A lack of railway staff, overloaded network, old technology and financial problems are the biggest obstacle in timeliness in India. But Japan has shown that if there is a desire, miracles can be carried out using technology and human resources. Understanding the value of time is also a major reason in Indian society. If the general public is considered the train as “normal”, the system also becomes careless about improvement. Conversely, when the train arrives late in Japan, the whole system is embarrassed. This is the right victory of the mindset. What can we learn from Japan? Technical Investment: Signal system, track monitoring and train automation should be elected to running high-speed trains. Staff training: Indian Railways must give time and security training to employees such as Japan. Decision Liability: If the train is late, the explanation and actions of the responsible officials must be assured. Protection of Passenger Rights: Time can be guaranteed for passengers by adopting arrangements such as Late Certification. Promotion of time culture: There must be an initiative to explain the importance of time of school and college itself. Conclusion: Time is that the power is that Japan’s trains are not only a traffic remedy, but the symbol of culture, discipline and responsibility there. It is definitely challenging to operate in a large country like India trains on time, but not impossible. There is a need to just understand, improvement and time to understand the price of time. As long as we will only consider the time a watch mark, we will be far behind Japan. But the day we consider time as “quality of life” will also start running trains in India on time.