A virulent fight by a woman passenger, whose berth was occupied by unauthorised male passengers, in an overnight train from Katpadi to Thiruvananthapuram has made the Southern Railway (SR) to introduce the concept of “train ownership”.
The train captain or commander, who will travel from the source to destination of a particular train, will be the one-point contact for grievances of passengers.
The system was introduced on train no. 12624 Thiruvananthapuram Central-Chennai Central Mail on Friday, and will be extended to five more trains, including train no. 12602/601 Mangaluru Central-Chennai Central-Mangaluru Central Mail by January 15. The other trains are: train no. 12623/624 Thiruvananthapuram Central-Chennai Central-Thiruvananthapuram Central Mail; train no. 12637/638 Chennai Egmore-Madurai-Chennai Egmore Pandian Express; train no. 16177/178 Chennai Egmore-Thiruchchirapalli-Chennai Egmore Rockfort Express, and train no. 12671/672 Chennai Central-Mettupalayam-Chennai Central Nilagiri (Blue Mountain) Express.
Helplines
Southern Railway Chief Commercial Manager Ajeet Saxena told The Hindu that the woman passenger had looked for travelling ticket examiners (TTEs) on the train in vain, while RPF personnel told her they could get her berth, but cannot get unauthorised male occupants, who were in an inebriated condition, out of the coupé. The woman contacted the emergency helplines, but the absence of an authority made her journey miserable.
The incident led Mr. Saxena to introduce a train captain. A senior TTE will be designated as captain. The captain, if unable to resolve the issues, will get in touch with senior officers. He said the captain’s contact number will be on the reservation chart for passengers to note.
First train captain, C.F. Petson, chief ticketing inspector, Thiruvananthapuram, said he was excited about the job. “It has been a fantastic day. Many passengers called to wish me luck,” he told The Hindu over phone.
The South Western Railways too is working in this direction. The system will be in place in a month on major trains, said Sridhar Murthy, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Bengaluru.
