The condition of Indian Railways improved a lot in the Modi-era but in the past few months, the situation has gone a little bleak as the sleeper coaches have become equivalent to the general coaches and people have no fear in travelling without ticket because now rarely you get to see a TC checking in sleeper coaches.
Now, the ticketless travelers have become so fearless that they have started entering the 3rd AC, 2nd AC and 1st AC coaches as well and surprisingly, the railway officials are not showing any seriousness in dealing with such instances.
Recently, a commuter who was travelling in the 1st AC coach of Mahananda 15483 posted a video on X (formerly Twitter) in which ticketless passengers can be seen flooding the corridor and how we can forget to mention that tickets of these seats are the costliest in the train and still the passengers are not able to travel peacefully and safely.
The name of commuter is Swati Raj; she took to X and wrote, “This is the current situation of AC 1st tier in Mahananda 15483. I request management to check this immediately as we are not feeling safe when we are paying extra for it. @narendramodi @indianrailway__@AshwiniVaishnaw”
This is the current situation of AC 1st tier in Mahananda 15483. I request management to check this immediately as we are not feeling safe when we are paying extra for it. @narendramodi @indianrailway__ @AshwiniVaishnaw pic.twitter.com/FwsKWhLCXF
— Swati Raj (@SwatiRaj9294) December 17, 2023
She was told to contact the Railway Protection Force but it seems that they were also not interested in solving the problem. She wrote, “We did contact them on 139, RPF came in one of the station to clear the rush but the stoppage was only for 2 mins so he couldn’t come inside to clear it. The problem is RPF should be present inside train to handle these kinds of situations. From outside they can’t do much.”
We did contact them on 139, RPF came in one of the station to clear the rush but the stoppage was only for 2 mins so he couldn’t come inside to clear it.
The problem is RPF should be present inside train to handle these kind of situations. From outside they cant do much.— Swati Raj (@SwatiRaj9294) December 18, 2023
Soon, netizens started reacting to this matter and some of them also narrated the horrific experiences they had. Check out some selected reactions:
Such sad state of affairs 😔
I wonder how #IndianRailways turns blind eye to such a serious issue. What if there's a medical emergency to one of the passengers & God forbid smthng happens then who will be responsible?@drm_apdj @rpfnr_ @DRM_DDU @rpfpccnb sirs request your attn— lalit kumbhar (@lalitkumbhar23) December 18, 2023
It's mandatory RPF must travel inside the train. Here in South India every coach even sleeper of non AC coaches will be manned by RPF. I was astonished that there is no RPF inside or near the AC coaches.
— Immanuel (@itsmeimman) December 20, 2023
I'm not surprised. Few days back I had to physically restrain a drugged out passenger who tried to assault me. No RPF on the train and the TTE was too scared to act. When I pulled the chain so that RPF can enter the train at the next stop, I was fined for it instead.
— Vineeth Maller (@vineethmaller) December 19, 2023
I remember in the 80s and 90s the RPF used to be INSIDE the train in certain sections, precisely to avoid this situation. And it helped.
— m Bhanot (@monshaa) December 19, 2023
Rightly Said. RPF Personnel r not rendering their deuty with due diligently, due to which passengers r feeling unsafe.
It's the duty of Rly Authority to provide protection atleast to Reserved Ticket Passengers.
Plz share ur further experience, whether ur query has been attended— Advocate P C SHARMA, (@Adv_pcsharma) December 18, 2023
It feel like cost cutting by railway has led to rpf not present inside train…
— Railfantraveler (@Railfantraveler) December 18, 2023
It’s a standard practice by rail
to fool commuters as even same pattern was used during our travel and nothing happened— Ashish Singh Thakur (@moviesashish) December 18, 2023
This is a pathetic state of affairs of the Indian Railways and it is really shameful. What is your take in this regard? Let us know.