People Boarding the Moving Coaches
Desperate scenes at the railway station
Last week, I had to catch a train and got to be at the station after a long time. Not that I was expecting things to be completely different; the urinal stench emanating from the tracks, occasional spit marks on the platform walls or at the side of the foot overbridge, though the platforms are a lot cleaner than before and of course, crowds of people waiting to board the train.
I managed to arrive a little before the train arrived at the platform, and since the train was originating from the station, all the coaches were empty.
People rushing to board
As soon as the engine approached the platform, scores of people moved towards the edge of the platform, and I couldn’t understand this as there was some distance to go before the train came to a halt.
But I saw those people leaping onto the doors of the first few coaches, and some doors were closed, so a bunch of people were hanging from the doors, holding onto the two long iron bars on either side of the door; some couldn’t even manage to find a footing on the footboard of the coaches.
It shook me from the inside to see people jostling and jumping onto the coach, and mind it, this all was happening while the train was moving, and any person from that crowd could easily miss their balance and slip into the gap between the train and the platform.
Probably, they may lose their arm and legs, I don’t know, but it scared me.
Watching this made my heart beat faster because I can never imagine boarding or boarding a moving train, bus or any vehicle.
I did try doing that and learnt my lesson, but when I attempted deboarding a moving vehicle, it was because I wanted to do it for the heck of it.
But seeing people leaping onto the moving coaches showed desperation; these people were desperate to find a place for themselves in the unreserved coaches. And these coaches make up only two or three of the rake.
Fare
The fare for unreserved general coaches if someone is travelling from New Delhi to Tatanangar, 1344 K.M, is Rs 322 or $3.88, and the class above the unreserved is sleeper class.
The sleeper class fare for the same distance is Rs 580 or $6.98.
Many people still can’t afford to travel in reserved coaches, or there aren’t enough sleeper coaches to accommodate the steep demand; whatever the case is, jumping onto the coaches must stop.
It also reminded me I still live in a country where scores of people can’t afford to travel in sleeper class, let alone A.C class. It was a stark contrast to people waiting to board the A.C. coaches, including me, as there was no rush to board them.
People waited patiently to get on A.C. coaches, assured they would find their berths with bedrolls.
