- Railways giving third degree torture to passengers in 45 degrees
- Even after informing of problem, no one is listening
- How can those who travel for free in AC coaches know the pain?
Venkat Vijay Kumar, Bhopal
Due to losses in Corona, the railway administration increased AC coaches in long distance trains to increase its financial income for the last one year, and reduced sleeper and general coaches. Due to this, passengers are forced to lighten their pockets to travel in AC. But for the middle and lower class passengers, the reduction in coaches is no less than a punishment. These passengers are forced to travel like sheep and goats in sleeper and general coaches, and on top of that, they also have to bear the torture of 45 degree heat.
Currently, about two crore people travel daily in Indian Railways. About 95 percent of these passengers travel in general and sleeper coaches, only five percent are passengers traveling in AC coaches. According to the data, most of the passengers face problems during travel in summer, because now long distance trains have 5 or 6 sleepers and two general coaches. When passengers with general tickets do not get a place in the coach, they enter the sleeper. Due to this, reserved passengers face a lot of trouble in traveling, because two to three times more passengers board these coaches than their capacity.
Case 1- There are about 900 passengers sitting in the 6 sleeper coaches of Kamayani Express going from Gorakhpur to LTT. On an average 3 to 4 passengers are sitting on one reserved berth. Out of these 3 passengers are general ticket holders. In such a situation, passengers travelling in this train at Kamlapati and Bhopal stations have to struggle a lot to board.
Case 2 – Raptisagar Express: It is difficult to describe the condition of this train going from Jammu to Kanyakumari. This 3000 km long train of the country has 16 AC, 5 sleeper and 2 general coaches. Passengers with general tickets are forced to travel sitting near the doors in the AC coaches of this train.
Railways is providing all kinds of facilities to the passengers. Additional coaches are added when the number of passengers is high. There are almost no complaints of problems from passengers in the trains running from West Central Railway. If any complaint comes, we take immediate action.
– Nawal Agarwal,
– PRO Bhopal Division