Railway officials to be rated on freight volumes, train movement efficiency

In order to meet its ambitious freight loading and earning targets, the Ministry of Railways has now included freight performance as a rating indicator for appraisal of Indian Railways employees.

Under the tweaked methodology for 2022-23 (FY23) appraisal of divisional officials, a 30 per cent weighting will be given to ‘group key performance indicators (KPIs)’, with scores based on the performance of the entire division and zone, Business Standard has learnt. Currently, there are 17 railway zones and 68 divisions.

"Zonal and divisional earnings, freight loading, and efficiency in train movement will form the basis of these scores,” a senior railway ministry official who did not wish to be named told Business Standard.

These scores, part of the annual performance appraisal report (APAR) of the Railways, will be given by the Railway Board’s efficiency and research directorate, according to an official order.

The existing five-step method – self-assessment by the employee, followed by two rounds of assessments and rating by the reporting officer, and two rounds of assessment of the reporting officers' rating and remarks by a reviewing officer – will have a 70 per cent weighting in the new appraisal methodology. The ministry has a short-term freight target of 2,000 million tonnes (mt) by 2024, and 3,000 mt by 2030. The national transporter ferried 1,400 mt of goods and raw materials in 2021-22.

“We need a central point of focus for even the remotest of employees. The problem with an institution as big as the Railways is that there is a sense of complacency; it doesn’t allow divisional employees to think beyond their basic job. This (the new method) will help align employees’ personal ambitions with the Railways’ growth targets,” said the official quoted above. 

Another official said there were concerns that the new appraisal policy might create a disproportionate advantage for zones and divisions that typically witness higher freight revenue, such as East Coast Railway and South East Central Railway.

Sources in the ministry indicated that the targets were not based on absolute growth, but proportional growth, which were in line with the ministry’s own freight projections for coming years, and the targets had been set while keeping the scope, limitations, and infrastructural growth of each zone in mind.

While group performance metrics are not uncommon, especially in the private sector, another concern in the context of the Railways is that freight performance and train operations are not fully in zonal employees’ control; that might result in uneven growth numbers for different zones.

The Railways’ overall freight growth against the ministry’s internal target was 0.94 per cent in FY22. However, seven of the 17 railway zones fell short of their targets. The biggest shortfall in zonal target was 14 per cent, while the biggest growth rate was of 6.6 per cent – a range of nearly 21 percentage points – indicating a wide variation in performance even in a year of growing freight volumes across zones.