In order to squeeze the last bit of money and to torture its customers, Indian Railways is taking a number of steps. In this post I will point out two of such nonsense steps. I dont know who gets such idiotic ideas, but anyway for passengers it is going to be a lot of hassle.
1. Advertising through announcement speakers - A recent phenomenon where you are bombarded with advertisements through the high volume announcement speakers. Right now it preceeds every announcement and in future this is guaranteed to be a real noise pollution. 2. Extra berth in sleeper coaches - In an effort to get more money, railways has decided to introduce a side middle berth in sleeper and 3 tier AC coaches. The problem is - where will the extra guy sit during the day time? No problem, they have decided to squeeze him on the lower birth on the other side. That means 4 people on a seat which is barely sufficient for 3 people! So instead of increasing seating compacity and putting more compartments and trains, Indian Railways has decided to torture passengers. Check out the new side berth arrangement below. The upper berth is so close to the roof that the guy lying there can barely breath! Now here are some interesting things to note, In the new arrangement, 9 people will share a space which is suitable for 6 people. 3 tier arrangement itself was a torture. Where will the new guy put his luggage? Already people fight with each other for luggage space is long distance trains. Earlier families with small children used to prefer side berths since it offered them some freedom/privacy especially when the child starts crying in the night. Railways seems to consider passengers also as some commodity to be transferred. Idea :- Why dont they use cargo trains to transport people? We can use returning cargo trains to transport people. Railways can market every cargo compartment as some sort of dormitory. Then each compartment can transport at least 200 people! Trivia:- When you get time, visit Trivandrum railway station. You will be amazed at the number of useless LCD screens at the station. I could spot over 40 LCD screens in the railway station! They even have a large Samsug high definition LCD tv to display time!!! I wonder how much Samsung has paid to get these lucrative contracts! Then you visit official railway canteen filled with smoke, dust and heat. Taken From: keralatips.org/2008/08/07/indian-railways-to-offer-more-torture-adds-extra-berth Thanks and Regards Sikander kushwaha Student PGDM XIDAS, Jabalpur
