Title : No No no No remedy!!!!
Review : I am reminded of an anecdote here or rather a joke I heard somewhere.
Once a delegation of former Soviet Union Railways came to India to study the Indian Railways. They stayed in India for quite sometime and when they were returning home they were asked about their impressions. They said a big change have come over them- when they were asked what was that- they said that being a communist country we never believed in God but after seeing the way the Indian Railway functions our belief in a supreme power above has strenghthened.
Such is the sad state of affairs. Once your money has gone to Indian Railways you only have one option either to make use of that money by travelling or to forget about it. The refund process is so tedious that an ordinary guy does not go for it and if he does a pleasant surprise awaits him because by the time he does get an intimation of refund he has forgotton all about it.
The refund intimation is followed by another tedious procedure when you have to present it at the nearest railway station. You will know so much about railway procedure that you would become a walking encyclopedia of outdated stupid rules dating back to British times.
The condition of the railway stations is such that I shudder to think what the foreigners think about us.
Indians once they have travelled anyplace here by trains. One thing I give to the railways that sleeper class is damn cheap but since I’ve never travel by that class what use is it to me or to any of the mouthshut fraternity for I do not believe that any of them must be using this class.
I do not really know what to say of this class it is not fit for animals to travel in. The toilets are unsable you have all kinds of filthy people going in and out all the time but probably that is all excusable.
Now let us talk about AC III and AC II and AC chair car .
=First of all all the fares are unjustifiably high . You shell out about Rs.900/- for AC II for travel from Lucknow to Delhi whereas you can take an Indian Airlines flight for Rs. 1250 only. How about that and then the facilities are nothing to speak of.
=The toilets are as usual dirty and unusable . The blankets and all are dirty and stink. Nobody comes to ask for food. You have to hunt for the guys to give you food. in this respect kashi vishwanath is an exception here is a good food service for you.
=Former prime minister shri Atal Behariji gave a wonderful gift to the Lucknowites as well as Delhites. He bought a whole train from Germany which is known as the Swarn Shatabdi. It is probably the best Chair car train in India. All the coaches as well as the engine is german.
About an year back it was a wonderful experience. The food was delicious the service was even better than that of an airlines. The train was right on time. Now with the change of government at the centre look what happens:
A few weeks back I was travelling with my wife to Delhi. In the evening food was served to us , it was so bloody chilly I did not know what to do , my wife had hiccups I requested the waiter to give us another bottle of mineral water he said that since you have had your alloted quota of one bottle you wont get more now what was I supposed to do about my wife in a train running at 140 kms /hour.
I told the waiter that I would make a complaint he challenged me to do my worst. Then I complained to the supervisor who immediately gave one bottle extra but by that time the damage was done and my wife was ill for a week afterwards and how did this happen , so far as I recollect about an year back the caterer was private now the railways themselves are doing the catering and you all know how government departments are.
I felt sick and sad that the most premier train in India has come to this.
=Talking about ticket collectors, well they are worst then the neighbourhood police guys.All they are interested in is making some money and well ’’politeness’’ is the last thing you can expect from them they are more like jail wardens and the perfect recipe to spoil your mood.
One thing good about the railways recently is the online booking system but even the attractive part of that seems to be ending . Previously getting the berth of your choice was one thing that motivated you to book tickets online now that facility has been withdrawn and well the service charges if you book by credit card is huge, simply huge.
Last thing - would you believe that reservation office in Delhi does not have credit card payment facility at all Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha ahh!!!!!!