Tourists who travelled by the ‘First Class’ coach of the 58502 Kirandul – Visakhapatnam Passenger from Araku on January 15 were in for a shock.
The train was scheduled to arrive at Araku 4.05 p.m. and at Borra Guhalu 5.15 p.m. but it came around one hour behind schedule. It was almost dark by the time the train arrived at Borra Caves and there were no lights in the First Class coach in which there were a large number of tourists.
“The ‘Araku Passenger’, as it is popularly known, is no ordinary train. It’s a tourist train and tourists’ excitement in travelling through the tunnels remains etched in their memory. But, having no power in the FC coach is ridiculous and gives a bad image of the railways,” opined R. Jayasri who travelled on that day.
The train passes through jungles and the absence of power sends a chill down the spine of tourists. An attempt was made to rectify the power problem at S. Kota but it was given up and the train was allowed to proceed without lights in the FC coach.
“My father B.S. Rao, who had served as a Guard, had detained the 9 Down Waltair–Howrah Passenger at Khurda Road station between 1940 and 1950, on noticing that the lights were not functioning during day time,” recalls B. Venkateswara Rao, who has also retired from railway service.
The railway officials used to wonder as to why should the train be detained for non-functioning of lights during day time. “It would be dark en route, if you don’t rectify the problem now how could it be attended at smaller stations”?
“My father used to be respected for his devotion to duty and knowledge even on technical issues. It is a different matter that he had allowed the train to proceed only after the problem was rectified.”
That was more than six decades ago. Today, we have trains running sometimes without lights, non-functional AC s and even without water.
“I travelled from Visakhapatnam to Secunderabad by 08577, a special train on January 17 by 3 Tier AC. The train, which was scheduled to leave at 4.45 p.m., was unduly delayed by one hour as the incoming rake (08477 Puri – Visakhapatnam Special) arrived at 4.35 p.m. on Platform No. 4,” says Lakshman of Hyderabad, who travelled by that train.
“This rake (08477), converted into 08577 special, was the Kalinga Utkal rake which was cancelled on account of fog and redeployed in the Secunderabad route by East Coast Railway. The indicator boards on PF4 were showing the train no. as 15902, which left the same platform at 3.50 p.m. as against 08577, which was placed at 4.35 p.m. There were no name plate boards on the train, leading to confusion as people were scrambling to locate D1, D2 and D3 and 2nd sitting reserved coaches”.
“Minutes before the departure of the train, there was an announcement saying that D 1 and D 2 coaches were located close to the engine while D 3 was located towards the end. Finally, the attendant pasted the reservation charts on the coaches. The train left the station at 5. 45 p.m. after Godavari left from PF 8, a delay by one hour. The coaches are untidy, stinking and ugly.”
“Though cleaning staff is available the coaches were not cleaned at Visakhapatnam. The water in the coaches ran dry soon after the train Visakhapatnam and the lone TTE, who came all the way from Puri, checked the tickets. The AC coach attendants expressed helplessness when asked for blankets saying they had very few for the return trip. The ‘special’ train was detained en route to allow other express trains to overtake, compounding the delay. Though ‘special extra charges’ were collected on all the passengers the service provided by East Coast Railway was far from satisfactory. The special reached Secunderabad at 11.15 a.m. more than five hours behind schedule”.
Lakshman cautions passengers to think twice before booking their tickets on festival specials, lest they end up paying ‘special’ fares for poor ‘service’ and ‘low priority’in running.
(Reporting by B. Madhu Gopal)
Published - January 19, 2016 12:00 am IST
