The Comfortable Train...

Just believe in a life without travel.

Believed??

Yes. Impossible. Hope I sensed it right.

Now, to travel is a feeling. Yes, damn sure. But comfort is a key factor.

Bus and bike transport is a hectic task for the common man going to work every day, though it gives a good sense of freedom and the thrill of riding one's own self. Seeing this and through personal experience, the government initiated a train mode inspired by pioneers like the UK, US, France, Germany, and Japan, among others, from abroad, long years ago.

Most trains operate on steel tracks with steel wheels, the low friction of which makes them more efficient than other forms of transport. Many countries use rail transport, and the one was put into service in countries, initially, like South America, Asia, Africa, etc. Though this service was initially tested on stone wagonways, it was upgraded to iron rails in the early 1700s.

A train is a chain of many single coaches or vehicles. It has many and just many facilities. You can walk, roam, sleep, eat, drink(tea, coffee, milk, juices, etc), use the restroom, play, dance, sing, read, write, speak, charge, sit, stand, watch, climb, get down, get up, understand life, people, whatnot? It will at least make a person go from an introvert to an extrovert or introvert type, in that journey, be the first travel or after a couple of travels. What an incredible invention to cater for the public concern and requirement. We will have a great journey with this transport across the nation and between countries. It is long like one's expectation of life. The difference might be that, train has many compartments, not mandated to cross each other. Whereas in life, it has to be.

Indian Railways Department operates around 13k trains daily. It was very useful as of date for the common man to comfortably sit or stand and travel, and avoid road traffic, and just manage with people traffic. And it will be comfortable down the line, too.

We hear in recent times, comparatively more number of odd reports regarding this comfortable transport. Train accidents, fire, blast, train cancellations, train delays, train drug usage, train women harassment, food hygiene issues, false tickets, high tatkal premium charges, and overload.

Before 1950, around 7 accidents were reported. During the 1950s, around 17 and a maximum of 17 in 1954 and 1957. During the 1960s, around 14, during the 1970s, around 7, during the 1980s, around 23, during the 1990s, around 35, during the 2000s, around 31, during the 2010s, around 76, during the 2020s till 2024, around 47 and in 2025, around 6 till July. That sums up to around 130 reported in the last 15years. After this, we had UP train accident, Bihar, AP, TN, Maharashtra and other accidents on the track. The properly planned though a struggling experience of the Ayodhya Prayagraj dharshan travels across the nation. We cannot blame the citizens, either, as they are unaware of the train capacity being an alien to the transport, in their view.

Accidents on the track made their mark since 1626 on Chinese soil(Beijing), and many followed it across the world. Each government steps in to resolve most, but not bring it to zero.

There do exist cases where a natural calamity has given a bang to this transport journey at an intermediate course, like the 22nd Dec'64 Dhanushkodi train tragedy caused by the 25-metre waves. It crashed into the town along with the train, leaving a mark such as carving and engraving output, till today.

There are many more, as said, other than accidents, as part of the grievances, to list them.

Regarding the accidents, they have the in-use grievance portal reporting as a basic step. Every railway servant shall report, with as little delay as possible, every accident occurring in the course of working the railway which may come to his notice and such report shall be made to the nearest Station Master, or, where there is no Station Master, to the railway servant in charge of the section.

And on the field actions like train mechanical parts and assembly verification, tracks verification and maintenance, review with the staff and drivers to understand the causes better, to arrive at a root cause.

The LINK addresses preventive measures

From a hygiene point of view, housekeeping staff initiates dry cleaning, followed by wet cleaning with a scent spray to freshen up the place. They do use long brooms so that their work gets done easily, and they don't need to disturb the passengers. The housekeeping 'tip' request or demand practices can be re-examined by the authorities where they are not reasonable and disturb passengers. Might be debatable, but to help, there also exist some basic conditions, the human trend, which is not that wrong. They have dry and wet waste dust bins near the restroom wash bin area so that it doesn't disturb the passengers in their seating area.

For the natural calamity, they ensure weather conditions prior to travel and can be doubly cautious as weather is quite risky compared to known or physical or visible issues. As it can be categorised under special cause, as it is far away from common causes.

Coming to the fire, we have to be safety aware be the train staff and the passengers. No flammable or inflammable material shall be kept near heat and electrically prone areas. And lubrication where more prone to heat on usage, whether it is the parts of the vehicle or any other material.

Regarding food hygiene, the department in charge can prioritise quality over cost saving. Passengers' intake, for them to travel places, plays a major role. As a user, post-use, dispose of it with care and acknowledge the food upon receipt and praise in case the quality and quantity meet their expectations. Motivation and recognition matter the most to the producers and servers of the food.

To the harassment part, the very old subject, still standing tall. Like in a game, "Respect the opponent", as quoted by Mr Sachin Tendulkar, is to be followed for a good game. In the same line, "Respect the opposite gender" applies to all genders. Respect wholeheartedly and value each other not only for the sake of support or pleasure. Pleasure is part of life, to experience and move on with other aspects of life. Pleasure with permission and acceptance is essential when dealing with the opposite gender. A couple was involved in intimacy inside the toilet during a train journey. Though this act is not allowed in public transport, here the part is mutual consent. Being dressed sexy doesn't permit the opposite person the license to touch. At the same time, women can work on types of outfits and other basic dressing aspects. Nothing offensive, just a measure of prevention. Dressing sense applies to men too. In this scenario, harassment or act, in the presence or acceptance of rail authorities, if any, shall only be taken care of by them. Rest lies with the discipline of each citizen only.

Train delay part shall have various causes like natural calamity, poor weather, mechanical failure, lubrication failure, driver or staff health issues, poor network, poor communication, track issues, overcrowding, unexpected strangers at tracks or in train, additional train plan at the last moment, etc.

Proper scheduling and maintenance with common communication and medical support planning shall ensure free of the above are addressed to the maximum possible.

Reg charges, quota like unreserved, Sleeper, third AC, second AC, first AC, Chair car, Two sitter, Tatkal, Premium tatkal and waiting list, reservation against cancellation. Charges vary from unreserved to premium Tatkal in ascending order, respectively. Though as a citizen we might not actually understand the difference between Tatkal and premium Tatkal,

and between passengers sitting and standing or sitting on the floor with the same unreserved ticket. This can be looked upon by the government as the common man would be unaware. As a department in care for the female, ladies' special, first class compartment facilities in local trains have been introduced.

Miscellaneous, though vital cases like..

Passengers, at times, face an extreme challenge to catch the train timely and book tickets in advance to be at the platform in the waiting list of people awaiting the train at the track. And to add to this is the arrival of overcrowded trains at times. So the rail officials have to give unprecedented invisible approval to passengers to travel without booking before boarding or travel in a superior class, which has comparatively less people traffic (as it is a bit economically weak) with a booking in the unreserved quota. As said, this is of invisible courtesy offer from rail officials. As a common man, these methods exist in common across states. They find time to question the governance authorities for non-compliance of public requirements, whereas, are much short of time or mind to question self and the fellow passengers. Government, to further favour the public, involves special verification resources to verify passengers on ticket availability, quota type, and standing position in coach verification. We have warriors of the nation standing brave, bold and wholeheartedly at the edge of the footboard, just before the warning board of the 1989 Footboard Travel Not Allowed Act. The constitutional act, at times, has to accept defeat in front of this warrior's act.

The warriors shall have multiple reasons for their acts, such as fun, impressing the girls or ladies, urgency, air need, etc.

As the authorities put additional task forces, they are, at times, left with no other option but to obtain additional monetary benefits from passengers in case of non-compliance with timely verification. Again, it is all because of the time constraints of the public, and the rest other qualities of them remain non-faulty. Hope the path is right for the people with voting rights?

To strengthen further, they initiated an additional booking machine with a special staff for timely booking, considering the existing booking counter capacity, booking staff speed and the passenger count. And the online booking applications. Due to a shortage of time and discipline, passengers unfortunately couldn't meet the expectations at times, to book, like non-booking travel, quota-differed booking, or similar self-created ticket booking by users. Further adding, the government has come up with the inclusion of a mandatory hard copy of ticket availability for the unreserved quota and a scanning app for TTE (Travelling ticket regulator or examiner) for QR code scan, with the passengers during travel. Still public, it is in a way dominant considering their new trend friend, the AI. The government has asked the public not to get too stressed, as this mandatory hard copy ticket is left undisturbed for E-ticket and M-ticket customers who book from the government portal.

Passengers can also consider adding a burden to them by spending time to throw the plates and cups, and bottles after usage, and clean and close taps after usage. Clean after usage of seats if any contamination. Close the doors or windows after use. Footboard travel avoidance, drinks and smoke avoidance.

The government can take steps to map the seating and standing layout capacity(where applicable), considering safety factors and map the capacity threshold. This shall be an alert factor while booking by staff at the counter. They can even further tighten the vehicle and track maintenance, safety assurance, food hygiene verification, train driver on-the-job training frequency revisit by the authorities, schedule review by a third-party authority to avoid journey overlap or clash and a few.

As a user, let us not allow the vehicle to be rained on with dirt and ensure we are TRAIN-ed effectively to travel in a Train, assisting the government to enhance it further in areas of scope. The sympathetic and empathetic citizens can make up their mind to give back something to this beautiful railway by just ensuring to return in the condition in which utilities and resources were offered at the start of travel after paying for travel.

Ultimately, both the department and its team and the passengers will be even more TRAIN-ed to make use of this beautiful invention, the TRAIN....

Nothing in critic mode, strictly from care..K.Karthik

References:

. . .

Discus