Western Railway's 'Coolie No 1' initiative to enhance services of licensed porters gets good response

Mumbai: In a unique initiative, the Western Railway (WR) has launched an initiative - 'Coolie No 1' - aimed towards mutual benefit of Licensed Sahayaks and passengers - and in a matter of months it has generated good response.

The initiative has been started at Mumbai-headquartered WR’s Mumbai Division.

“Licensed Sahayaks (licensed porters) play an integral part in the railway system in India and add an important value in the overall train travel experience of long-distance passengers,” a WR spokesperson said on Tuesday.

The initiative was launched as a pilot experiment at Surat Station, by Ganesh Jadhav, Commercial Inspector (CMI) in Surat on 11 October which is coincidentally the birth date of legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan who played the role of a Licensed Sahayak in the iconic 1983 flick Coolie.

Since the successful pilot experiment at Surat station, the initiative has now expanded to include Licensed Sahayaks at Mumbai Central and Bandra Terminus.

The “Coolie No. 1” initiative by the Mumbai Division in its due course attempts to achieve several key points such as imparting training on fire fighting, emergency response like Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), passenger and luggage safety, personality development of Sahayaks and enabling positive interaction with customers, better responsiveness to the needs of passengers.

Besides, adherence to fair and behavioural norms set by the Railways, digital inclusion like imparting awareness about digital payments, maintaining biometric data of Licensed Sahayaks and engage them into Swachata Hi Seva Abhiyaan by creating awareness to keep station and premises clean and participation in cleaning activities - would also be undertaken.

“Under this initiative, a survey is conducted where willing passengers are requested to fill out a feedback form after utilizing the services of a Licensed Sahayak. The feedback form fills in details such as Buckle No. Rating, Service, etc. of the Sahayak, among other details,” the spokesperson said.

Based on the data collected from these feedback forms, one Sahayak is selected and certified as “Coolie No. 1 of the Month”.

“Additionally, in the event of any negative remarks, the administration issues a warning or takes corrective action as well. Mumbai Division plans to carry out multiple voluntary training programs and counselling sessions for Licensed Sahayaks to make the travel and interaction experience of passengers better,” the spokesperson added.