In the last two years there was a huge image re construction of Indian Railways. There has been a major image overhaul of the services and online boom is a major reason for that.
By on line boom I mean
~~ The ease of getting reservations (normal & tatkal) through internet.
~~ An option to check the running status of Trains
~~ Automated replies through phone. There are Numbers like 311, 312 where you can check your PNR No., whether a train has left the specified station or not etc.
With all these features and many more the government has been boasting of the growth of Indian Railways. But are these changes for real? Do they really help the passengers? Or It was just pre election hype created by Lalu Prasad Yadav?
I’ll share my experience with you all.
With Diwali vacations round the corner we got our reservations done the day it opened. But a confusion here & confusion there we had the confirmed tickets of one day before the vacations started. SO we ended up with a waiting ticket.
But since we were relying on our Broadband connection (we are planning to say Tata to them as Reliance on any of these connections is like building castles in Air) we thought we will get the reservations through IRCTC & under Tatkal.
The D Day came we were logged in before 8 AM and could see the seats available. At Dot 8 the system went off.
For Next 1 Hour the site didn’t connect. The message which came was Communication Failure, Train doesn’t exist, Couldn’t Log onand what not.
~~ The underlying fact is, Facility is there but can we rely on it fully? How come the sites are down at the nth hour only? Is there any foul play?
~~ We were looking out our reservation to Varanasi. The status showed only 125 seats available. When we boarded the train it is was more than half empty. Foul play again? Can we really rely on status reflected on the site?
~~ On our return trip our reservation was Waiting 1 & 2. Before the trains started Waiting 1 was confirmed & 2nd remained Waiting 2 till the end. When we reached the station & checked the Chart Waiting 3 was confirmed and so were no 13 & 23. How come No. 2 was skipped? Against No 3 there was a mention HO. When we asked the TT what does it mean? He said it might be some quota. Hello!!! TT’s are supposed to know the real meanings of the abbreviations, right? Foul Play again.?
~~To check the current running status we kept on calling the specified numbers but they were continuously engaged. Reason? Phone kept on hold. One more facility wasted.
~~ Being the way I am I was checking the running status of train through the website https://trainenquiry.com. Same old story there, at 10 PM the last updated was of 14:00 Hrs. One more facility useless.
~~ At the station there was display of the current status of the trains. Our train was supposed to arrive at 00:30 Hrs. The display didn’t change till 00:55 when suddenly there was an announcement that trains No 2154 is arriving on Platform No. 1 in Kucch hi pal. Whom can we rely on?
Those were basically the technical aspects; let’s look into the other aspects.
$$Being the cautious person I am I had cooked the food and locked it in my bag. We boarded the train and suddenly my 6th sense said, Smita you have left the keys at home. I raked in my pitara (purse) and my 6th sense was right. So we ordered vegetable biryani worth of 40 Rs and one lunch costing Rs 35.
Biryani was plain rice thrown with vegetables. No spice, no salt & No spoon.Repeated request but we ended up eating with our hands.
Lunch? We had better food in hostel.
To add to my woes, not even one coffee vendor on the way. The train was from Mumbai to Muzzafarpur (Bihar) and it didn't have a pantry car.
$$ No body follows the weight limit restriction. And No body is questioned also.
$$ Toilets get dirty on a long route train, water finsihes but there is not soultion to them.
All in all the overall experience was disappointing. But being the optimistic person I am I have learned something for my next trip.
We all know that we can not expect things to improve drastically. So we have to take things in our hands. Here are the solutions according to me
^^ Before getting your reservations done break a coconut in front of the entire God’s.
^^ Keep a back up plan of a reliable reservation agent ready in all cases.
^^ Always keep food outside the locks.
^^ Keep several books with you lest you have to wait at the station as you don’t get reliable information about the current status of your train. (Now you all now how I have finished 4 books in my vacations)
^^ Before next vacations instead of clothes or jewelries invest in Air Ticket.
^^ Don’t believe in whatever is being said by Indian Railways. Things surely have improved but there is a long way to go.
On a serious note my experience has told me that whatever the ho hallah was there for the revamped image of Indian Railways. Its some part truth & mostly marketing gimmicks for votes.
Majority of Indians are still dependent on this mode of travel & that is the reason that the passengers are taken for granted.
Introducing newer technology is necessary but implementation is the key and that’s where we all lack.
I have used IRCTC a lot and it seriously saves loads of time, but why doesn't it work for Tatkal?
Despite the sorry state of affairs and average rating I have still recommended the product. Why?
We still don't have a better and cheaper alternative for an average Indian.
PS Request you all to share your experience in the comments. Sometimes they help.
