Passengers travelling by A2 compartment of Train no 12621 Tamil Nadu Express bound for New Delhi that left Chennai Central on Monday night had to endure a sleepless night.
As soon as the train left Chennai, the airconditioning system on the AC 2-tier coach and the fans stopped functioning.
Adding to their woes was the lack of running water in the toilets.
Complaints to the coach attendant did not yield result, as the system kept tripping at short intervals, leaving passengers, including a pregnant woman and some with children, to suffer.
“I am travelling for the first time to New Delhi by Tamil Nadu Express, and this experience has left a bitter taste about this prestigious train,” said Niranjan, a passenger. Another passenger was seen complaining to the TTE that he had to make do with bottled water after using the washroom.
All that the TTE could do was to tell them that he had informed Vijayawada authorities about the problem, which would be rectified there. When a passenger demanded that the TTE take down a written complaint, he replied that he did not have the complaint book with him and advised him to lodge a complaint online.
No response
There was no response when the passenger repeatedly called rail complaint number 138 and also sent an SMS to 81212 81212.
The technical staff made a stop-gap arrangement by arranging power supply with an external cable from the next compartment but in vain.
Some lucky passengers were eventually accommodated in other compartments by the TTE, which was reportedly an arrangement only up to Vijayawada.
When contacted, railway authorities in Vijayawada said they were not aware of any such problem.
A senior official of the Southern Railway said in Chennai that no complaints had been registered about the problem. Normally, five technical persons, comprising three mechanical and two electrical engineers, would be travelling on the train for maintenance of the coaches, he said.
