Delhi Railway Stations

 Delhi Railway Stations.

By making a PNR enquiry before 2 to 4 hours of the departure of train, you will get the status of the reservation and the position of the coach from the engine. While this information is useful in general as you can take position at the platform even before the arrival of train, it is redundant in the case of Railway stations in Delhi/ New Delhi. The other day I had travelled by Mumbai Rajdhani Express. My coach position was 9^th from the engine but there was no indication of the coach position in the platform. Even after the arrival of the train the coach names were not flashed. Consequently passengers were moving from left to right and vice versa. If somebody alights from the foot over bridge, and the first compartment is B4, he/she will not know whether B1 is on the right or left. Similarly on many times the arrival information is not given properly. Even if the train is standing in the outer, the announcement will mention that ABC express is scheduled to arrive shortly without mentioning the platform number.  This will result in unnecessary and avoidable movement of passengers resulting in skirmishes and stampede. There are cases when they give premature information also. While coming from Udaipur at about 8 AM on one day, I found the details of a train was given with coach position which was scheduled to depart at 13.30 Hours. What was the need to give information    five and half hours before the departure of train? Details of trains starting/passing through these stations are also given in a haphazard way.  Neither it is based on the chronological order of the departure timings nor is it based on the direction viz; south, west, east, north etc. Therefore, it takes lot of time to locate a train in the table. Making all these arrangements does not require much infrastructure or any technical expertise, but only little common sense and a sense of duty towards the passengers and public. Authorities should consider inclusion of a topic on “common Sense” as an integral part of school curriculum and an essential part of all training programmes for Delhi Division Railway employees.

On 16^th August I boarded Rajdhani Express from Nizamuddin station. Scheduled departure was 20.45 Hrs. Train reached platform at 20.25 Hrs. Even after the train reached the station, coach position was not indicated on the board. On the other hand, details of a passenger train No 660084 from Palwal to New Delhi was shown on both sides of the boards at the entrance of platform No 4 and 5. This is a classical case of misplaced priorities by not giving the required information of a fully reserved long distance train and giving details of a train, the destination of which is 7 KM from Nizamuddin.

Chaos, confusion and indiscipline are the hallmarks of Delhi. One of the reasons is the multiplicity of authorities. Delhi can be compared with Draupati, but the comparison stops then and there itself. While Draupati’s husbands were having perfect understanding and were vying with each other to serve her, Delhi’s husbands like DDA, NDMC, DMC, PWD (Delhi Govt), CPWD (Central Govt), were all having misunderstanding and tries to shirk, shift, bypass and avoid responsibilities. In the process Delhiwala are the most sufferers. In spite of that many of them feel proud to be Dilwalas. We Indians have the tendency to copy and adopt wrong practices and Delhi Division of Northern railway is apparently doing that taking a cue from Delhi.

National Capital is visited by lacs   of people from across the country and around the globe. What impression the visitors will carry about the capital and country if even rudimentary things are managed in such a cavalier and irresponsible way is anybody’s guess.