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UK rail enquiries headed for India: The Times of India
London, Oct 16: India Inc is well-placed to win a massive, long-term contract running into tens of millions of pounds, if British train operators finalise a plan to shift the UK`s entire national rail enquiries system off-shore.
London, Oct 16: India Inc is well-placed to win a massive, long-term contract running into tens of millions of pounds, if British train operators finalise a plan to shift the UK's entire national rail enquiries system off-shore.
The decision, to be announced in just nine weeks time, places four Indian companies running call centres in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore in pole position.
It would mean Indian graduates spending the next eight years of their lives answering a stream of queries 24/7 from often hard-to-understand train passengers 7,000 km away in the UK about timetables, routes, delays, stops, discount fares and disabled access carriages.
Jay Meritt of the trade association that Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) told TNN the "preferred bidder would be chosen on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender". Twenty-five British train operating companies would save 10 million pounds by moving East, Meritt said, and "it is money we need to save to get the best for passengers". But he denied that India had already won the contract.
A wave of British trades union hostility and media incredulity has greeted leaked news of the possible passage to India.
At least one broadsheet newspaper wrote a jokey editorial about the "fitting irony" of "India selling services to one of Britain's greatest imperial exports – the railways".
ATOC said the Indian option was explored in March after British Telecom, one of the earliest European migrants to India, "informed" ATOC's chief executive about the value-for-money service. British Telecom has a contract to answer most of the UK's railway enquiries calls and was keen to move the service to India, Meritt said.
Consequently, ATOC's chief executive visited eight Indian call centres in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, Meritt said. He was very "impressed by the set-up, the professional operations, enthusiasm of staff, the staff's English-speaking abilities and the call-centre infrastructure, i.e. the actual building, the working environment and IT systems being used", he added.
Trade union Amicus called the move "crass stupidity". One unnamed true-blue British train operator said it was an "outrageous use of (British) taxpayers' money". Some commentators humorously suggested Britain's plight was of its own making because it gave India the English language in the first place.
ATOC admitted, however, that any Anglo-Indian railway operation would mean "we'd look at very real but not insurmountable problems to do with a major power failure or a technical breakdown". Britain has an increasing number of delayed trains. Meritt admitted "delays mean we face a real problem in getting information to call centres in real time".
The ATOC chief executive's leaked internal memo to train operating companies said there was a "strong business case" for moving to India. But he warned of likely "trade union agitation and negative media coverage regarding jobs".
The decision, to be announced in just nine weeks time, places four Indian companies running call centres in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore in pole position.
It would mean Indian graduates spending the next eight years of their lives answering a stream of queries 24/7 from often hard-to-understand train passengers 7,000 km away in the UK about timetables, routes, delays, stops, discount fares and disabled access carriages.
Jay Meritt of the trade association that Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) told TNN the "preferred bidder would be chosen on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender". Twenty-five British train operating companies would save 10 million pounds by moving East, Meritt said, and "it is money we need to save to get the best for passengers". But he denied that India had already won the contract.
A wave of British trades union hostility and media incredulity has greeted leaked news of the possible passage to India.
At least one broadsheet newspaper wrote a jokey editorial about the "fitting irony" of "India selling services to one of Britain's greatest imperial exports – the railways".
ATOC said the Indian option was explored in March after British Telecom, one of the earliest European migrants to India, "informed" ATOC's chief executive about the value-for-money service. British Telecom has a contract to answer most of the UK's railway enquiries calls and was keen to move the service to India, Meritt said.
Consequently, ATOC's chief executive visited eight Indian call centres in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, Meritt said. He was very "impressed by the set-up, the professional operations, enthusiasm of staff, the staff's English-speaking abilities and the call-centre infrastructure, i.e. the actual building, the working environment and IT systems being used", he added.
Trade union Amicus called the move "crass stupidity". One unnamed true-blue British train operator said it was an "outrageous use of (British) taxpayers' money". Some commentators humorously suggested Britain's plight was of its own making because it gave India the English language in the first place.
ATOC admitted, however, that any Anglo-Indian railway operation would mean "we'd look at very real but not insurmountable problems to do with a major power failure or a technical breakdown". Britain has an increasing number of delayed trains. Meritt admitted "delays mean we face a real problem in getting information to call centres in real time".
The ATOC chief executive's leaked internal memo to train operating companies said there was a "strong business case" for moving to India. But he warned of likely "trade union agitation and negative media coverage regarding jobs".