Overflowing toilets, cockroaches under berths and in the toilets, lack of water in the coaches are some of the problems which seem to be common on most trains.
Ms. Lakshmi Kapoor and Ms. Indrani, who travelled in the II AC coach from Tirupathi to Visakhapatnam by Tirupathi – Santragacchi Express last Monday (August 24) got the shock of their lives when they found that water was not flowing through the taps in the toilets and the wash basins.
“When we complained to the coach attendant, he was coming and turning something and water flowed but the problem persisted as soon as he left. The toilets were very untidy and there was no ventilation. Further, there were cockroaches,” said Ms. Indrani.
Ms. Lakshmi Kapoor, who woke up in the middle of the night, was horrified to see the coupe door left open. “The door should invariably be kept closed, particularly, during the nights. There is no point in our shelling out a fortune on II AC travel, when security is thrown to the winds,” opined Ms. Indrani.
M. Bhaskar, who travelled in the III AC coach from Secunderabad to Visakhapatnam by 12740 Garibrath Express last Wednesday (August 26) had a similar experience. “The coach was very unclean and there were a lot of cockroaches in our coach. I wonder whether proper cleaning is done”.
Eatables and bottled water is being sold by vendors according to the whims and fancies. “When I asked a bottle of water, he said it was Rs.30 and he finally reduced it by Rs.5 and gave me for Rs.25 as against the MRP of Rs.15 on it. He spoke to me in a rude manner and asked me to complain to anybody,” says Mr. Bhaskar.
“The bedroll supplied to me was neither cleaned nor ironed. I wonder how come they give such untidy bed rolls even after collecting money in advance.”
“To add to our plight, the train arrived at Kancherapalem outer signal on time but it was detained for about 30 minutes to give way for train 17016 Secunderabad – Bhubaneswar Visakha Exp and train 57271 Vijayawada – Rayagada Passenger in the opposite direction.”
“When the train reached the station I found platforms 2, 6, 7 and 8 empty. Assuming the two trains had vacated two platforms, two other were still vacant. This is a perfect example that movement of trains in Visakhapatnam is done from Bhubaneswar, by giving preference to East Coast Railway trains ahead of South Central Railway trains.”
