Last month we were returning from Jamshedpur to Mumbai by Geetanjali Express, which was jam packed. This train is always full, even during off season you will have to book your ticket well in advance to get a confirmed berth.
Many a times when we don't get a confirmed seat, we are issued a RAC ticket, which almost confirms a berth as there always are some cancellations prior to the departure of the train. But it doesn't happen always that you get a confirmed berth with RAC status but at least a seat to sit is guaranteed and also during the course of the journey a berth is allotted as and when it gets vacant.It is always the side lower berth that is issued to two different individuals to sit / share whose RAC status remains as it is. At times these individuals are strangers, who have never met before.
On this eventful day, in a jam packed train, there were many passengers who were left with no options but to share the lower berth with fellow passengers. The side lower berth that was next to our seats was also being shared by two passengers as well. both unknown to each other, which was ok as there were many such passengers. But the case of these two individuals who were sharing the lower berth was different as one of the passenger was a male in his mid twenties and the other passenger was a female in her early forties.
Due to the jam packed situation, the TTE was helpless and could not allot a separate berth. The worst case was that the attendant of the AC compartment is issued one blanket per seat hence only one blanket was given to these passengers, which the man was nice to give to the lady.
The train departed from Jamshedpur at 5.30 pm in the evening and both these passengers were issued berths only on next afternoon when it became available. Throughout the journey, the man squeezed himself to a corner of the seat and maintained a worried look on his face where as the woman was embarrassed.
I fully agree that all the seats are allotted by computer, which leaves the passengers with no options but to accept willingly or reluctantly. My concern is, shouldn't there be a system / software that detects the gender of the passengers whose tickets are issued under separate PNR numbers and allots seats accordingly to avoid such incidents in future.
Please come forward with your views / suggestions.
