Let us consider how good Indian Railways really does their job. There is no doubt that the Indian Railways is still the primary system of travel for people traveling throughout India. Flights are getting cheaper, and the road system is improving, but the Railway is still what people default to when they think of cross country travel. Indian Railways is one of the most affordable means of travel of people. It is really the transportation of the common people.
You have to consider that there are 1.3 billion people in the nation, and they need transportation. One of the difficulty is that people need to book tickets up to three to four months in advance. Most people would have trouble planning out their travels so early. To meet this last minute need, they have created an emergency booking system called TATKAL where people can book just one day before their travel. But this is a hit and miss approach where you don’t have any guarantee that you will get the booking.
Although such complications are there in the Indian Railway system, they are working on improving the booking, travel, cleanliness, accessibility, internet connectivity, catering of food, and numerous other options for their customers. From the side of the customer, the changes may not be enough nor fast enough. But for the Indian Railways trying to serve a country with such a large population, it is doing a great job in their task.