By F. M. Britto

Raipur, April 10, 2024: Getting up early at 4:30 am, I rushed to the Raipur railway station to catch my train.

At the station I browsed through my mobile to see at what platform my South Bihar Express (13287) arrives. Surprisingly, it said the train was reaching four hours late.

Though the train commences only from Durg, just one hour journey from Raipur, it is starting from there itself four hours late. And it would reach my destination Akaltara at 2 pm in the hot sun, instead of at 10:30 a.m.

Unwilling to sit for four hours at the station, I opted to travel by the upcoming Shivnath Express (18240), coming late by 1:43 hours.

Since I cannot travel by the South Bihar’s reserved ticket of 140 rupees, I had to purchase from the TTE another ticket of 350 rupees to travel by the Shivnath’s Sleeper coach.

Angered by the loss of my precious 350 rupees for no mistake of mine, I blasted at the TTE, “How are you people running the trains? My train is late by four hours.”

It was three hours late when I had arrived there the previous day by Korba – Vishakhapatnam (18517). All the trains are running late.

“Sir, You are travelling now and then,” the young TTE responded. “But we are suffering every day. It is all coming from the top.”

At the next minor Tilda station three commuters got in. “Today also our boss will shout at us that we are always late,” moaned one.

“When we reach the station at 5 pm we have to wait 2-3 hours for the train. Local trains are cancelled. Reach home. Eat and sleep. Next day again, get up and rush to the station. This has become our life.”

Another said: “Though they accuse Lalu Prasad of corruption, he ran the railways very well.”

“Ram Vilas Paswan and Mamta Banerjee also were good Railway ministers,” added another.

“No one knows the present Railway minister,” joined another. “We know only Modi. He is there everywhere to flag off the Vande Bharat. Only that reaches in time. That is meant for the wealthy. Not for us.”

“The Government wants people to be fed up with the trains running late, so that they can be privatised,” revealed another passenger.

The South Bihar Express, which was supposed to reach Akaltara at 10:22 am, reached there only at 5 pm. Instead of starting back from Patna at 8:15 pm, it started at 3:15 next morning.

The railways have fixed 30 minutes to cover the 26 km distance from Bilaspur to Akaltara. But even the Superfast trains are halted at the outer of Gathora, Jairamnagar, Latia Cabin and Akaltara stations to give way to the goods trains plying with coal from the nearby Korba, delaying the trains for another hour.

When trains are running late like this, what about the ordinary passengers, who travel with their families in this hot summer?

Earlier, I used to enjoy train travels. Now, under the present administration, it has become a hell.