The plight of Indian Railways - Part 2

So now you have spent few hours at stinky platforms, gazed around many things and observed the whole India. But story never ends here .. picture abhi baki hai mere dost !!

The Train : The conditions of trains are improving but they are yet far away from becoming truly world class. The trains are filthy and very less is being done to made it more comfortable. Some trains are in such poor shape that it is difficult to travel. Its almost next to impossible to travel in second class coach. The first class coaches are good but not very comfortable. The best thing about Indian Railways is the cost of tickets. AC coaches are usually affordable and the tickets for other classes are cheap, but the train in itself can be very dirty.

Trains are usually poorly maintained. Many fans are not working. The seats are not much comfortable. Sometimes the windows won't shut completely, so if you are traveling in winters and your seat is next to window, it can spoil your journey. AC coaches provide blankets etc but these are usually third grade, so it is advisable to carry your own blankets etc. Another point which usually people don't care about but then suffer lately is that "don't forget to loo before you leave from your home!". The toilets are perhaps the worst maintained toilets in the world. Avoid it as long as you can. All toilets even in AC coaches stink. Moreover people perhaps don't know how to use them, that could also be one of the reason to have you look at other people's shit on floor. It could be a worst experience really. If unfortunately you have to visit it try to be as fast as you can, though i don't need to advice here as no one would dare to sit for long. There is no soap available so don't forget to carry your own soap! And if you are a women probably all eyes would be on you, yes bear it and is a fact :(

The situation is so bad that in the rail budget of 2008-09 special fund was reserved to upgrade the toilets in trains. Also most of the toilets are of Indian style, so if you are an outsider or has little experience using hands better avoid it or learn it !

Inside The Train :Be advised that there are not only you (people with reserved tickets) there are many others to share the seat with you in a reserved compartment though they don't have reserved tickets ! Bribery is paramount in Indian railways and TTE usually charge the ticketless passengers (as bribe and not as fine) and allocate the seats at their own will. Sometimes there would be


many daily passengers who will storm inside the reserved compartment to disturb the passengers with tickets. These fellow passengers even don't have valid tickets to travel on that route yet they never pay any fine. They are huge in numbers so TTEs usually avoid ticket checking when they are in coaches. They talk rude with the fellow passengers sometimes using obscene language. They disturb the whole compartment causing inconvenience and revenue loss to railways. It would be appropriate to call them the 'goons of the trains'. I recently had a chance to look them more closely and i have uploaded a pic of them. The sardarji(one with a turban) in the photo was a genuine passenger with valid ticket who was forced to sit on the upper seat as his lower seat was occupied by these goons.

Other than these ticketless passengers, there are many unauthorized vendors selling chains to food items to household things. Some even sell medicines ! This makes the train crowded and noisy, however, many funny things can also happen ! So all in all it depends upto you to decide whether you enjoyed it or not !

Other Things : There could happen many nasty things. Baggage theft is common, there have been some incidents when passengers were intoxicated and looted away their belongings. Fight over seats are common. Almost all trains are crowded with baggers and for god sake don't give them anything. This usually encourage them ,though begging is an offense in India but is never checked. Its for your benefit to take care of your own belongings. Sights of slum dwellers are common near the railways stations and railway tracks. The railway tracks are usually considered as public toilets by many !

Again it is up to you to decide whether you want to opt for train for a particular destination.

Some facts about Indian railways :

01. The routes cover a total length of 63,465 kms.
02. 14,444 trains are run daily.
03. Rs 20,000 cr (US $ 50 bn cash surplus) in 2007.
04. It is world's largest commercial or utility employer, with more than 1.6 million employees.

Many new schemes are being announced for the upgradation of Indian Railways including increasing the speed of train which is at now 120 Kmph (max). Also high speed corridors are also considered. What will be the future of Indian Railways after 10 years? Only time has the answer !!

(concluded)

The plight of Indian Railways

Much has been written about the Indian Railways all over in the newspapers, blogs and many other media sources. There have been numerous case studies at IIMs, Harvard and other B schools about the Lalu transforming Indian Railways into a world class rail service. But the truth is Railways are in a complete mess and the whole journey remains full of chaos. The affluent seldom travel (only exception is when the city is far away and there is no flight service available to the city) and thus the people who usually travel are working class (aka the great Indian middle class) or the poor section of the society or the daily passengers.

Let's take a whole look at the journey.

The Booking : Problems start even before you reach station ! Though the railway minister announce many new trains in each rail budget, the fact remains that you need to book your tickets at least one month before for prime routes or three weeks for non prime sectors. If you have the privilege of plastic money one can use the internet reservation service, which actually is a very good service, otherwise you have to stand in long queues at the booking window. The booking staff is usually the typical Indian government babu who has no sympathy towards the fellow standing people and move the things at his own discretion and will. Then there is the problem of touts which are omnipresent in each govt establishment. They will leave no stone unturned to rip you off. Now add to the confusion of which train to go by and on which route, reserving your ticket in itself is a big achievement !

The Station : Now you have got your tickets booked (vow!!) you head to the railway station happily to catch your train. An advice here : start your 'mission' to station well before the schedule time as the jams are imminent on all roads leading to station. So now you have made it to the station ... welcome to the world of stink. Here everything stinks , from the booking window to entrance halls to the platforms and last but not the least passengers (no i am not being racist here but this is the fact, so lets bear it). Then there is no proper space to park your car. The parking is managed by some locals who don't know the abc of prking rules. The haphazard parking add to the already chaotic traffic jam. Somehow, you make it to the platform on time only to 'discover' that the train is late by few hours (cor : not all trains arrive or depart late but yes, the probability of train running of schedule is very high). Also, there is a strange logic behind the trains running out of schedule or in exact word no logic at all. There are few trains who always run late without any specific reason and there are few who always leave at time. This has made the regular passengers expert that they can easily tell which train is good or bad (in terms of time). So it always pays for good to consult a local before making reservation for any particular train. Indian station even lacks the basic amenities. If you are traveling first time in a train then probably you will have to put a lot of effort only to know on which platform the train is scheduled to arrive/depart. More than ten platforms are common in big cities, so unfortunately if you entered the station from wrong side and the your platform is at other end, take my words : it will soak the energy out of you just to reach the other side of the platforms. There are no escalators, so you have to carry your luggage on your shoulders. You can have a coolie to carry your luggage but again he'll try every possible way to over charge you. There is no potable water and don't even dare to enter restrooms.

The food available on the platforms is unhygienic and can cause several air transmitted diseases or food poisoning. Rats are common on the railway tracks and they are so big that even cat will think twice before she can dare out her adventure to catch them. Given this huge population of rats it is simply not safe to deposit your luggage in the cloak room even the railways take no responsibility of your luggage being damaged by rats. There are whole lot of people on platform so no matter how early you come, you probably will never get any berth on the platform chair. Inside the station you can see whole India. People from many states and many walks of the life which keep the station abuzz with activities which anybody will simply find unbearable.

... to be concluded