(Side) Upper Middle Lower – Indian Railways

Indian Railways is one of the largest and busiest rail networks in the world. Until recently it was making loss and was on the verge of bankruptcy. Under Railway Minister Lalloo Prasad Yadav it saw a cash surplus of 9000cr INR on 2005, followed by 14,000cr and 20,000cr in the subsequent years. This is no simple task in an organisation that is as huge as the Railways. Managing such an organisation successfully speaks volumes about the men behind the scenes for Railways. Kudos for this great achievement!

But how did they manage all this surplus all of a sudden? I am no follower of politics or of the railway budget. From what I observe in my experiences with the Railways, the paradigm shift in their policy making is evident. For example, the emergency reservation of tickets or more famously the tatkal tickets, had a price revision. The SL class passengers must shell out Rs150 extra during the peak season and Rs75 during the non-peak season for the tatkal tickets. This sometimes turns out to be twice the normal fare, and absolutely unaffordable at the least! But in a country that boasts a billion population you must be clairvoyant to get your rail tickets without any hassles. Now this particular policy may be justified by some economics that I may not understand. But having a side middle berth introduced in the trains is not going to have many supporters!

Are you shocked? Yes, the Railways have started making modifications to the coaches so that a side middle berth is fitted and the seat numbers also suitably modified. This is certainly a large scale project and they are carrying it out in phases. I am not being cynical when I say,  “I knew they will mess this up!”. They have not removed the old numbers that have 8 in a bay. Even better they still sell only 72 tickets per coach. No announcement as to which of the two numbering must be followed. All this make a perfect recipe for passenger quarrels. As expected, there are two warring factions with opposing views on which numbering must be followed. Generally, the faction one chooses to be in has got nothing to do with his political/regional/religious alignment. He/She chooses a side based on whichever system provides a seat they prefer. Some educated and calm, ladies and gentlemen prefer to wait for the TTE to pronounce the judgment. The TTE throws his arms saying that Railways is full of money minded policy makers and that he cant help it. Some of them go to the extent of asking Railway Police Force to sort out the issue. Now both the factions are justified, no matter what made them choose sides. They have paid for the service. Isn’t it the responsibilty of the Railway officials to clear the confusion by putting up a notice regarding this extra berth? Can’t they simply stick a notice besides the passenger chart telling which numbering system to adopt? I hope this issue is sorted out at the earliest. I dont think I can take the numbering confusion for the third time!