Coal dust greets passenegers

“I travelled by the S 3 coach (berth no. 51) in 22801 Visakhapatnam – Chennai Central Weekly SF Express on March 30. I and my co-passengers were astonished to find a layer of coal dust on all the berths in our coach at the starting point in the originating train,” says Ch. Srinivasa Rao of Madhura Nagar in the city.

“I saw passengers fretting and fuming and using towels, handkerchiefs and newspapers to remove the dust. The one thing everyone was at a loss to understand as to why the coach was not cleaned at the coaching complex,” he says.

“I travelled from Chennai to Vijayawada in the S-2 coach by the Alleppey – Dhanbad Express on Sunday. On reaching the railway station, I searched for my coach and got into it but was surprised to find another passenger occupying my berth. I took his ticket and saw that his coach was given as ST-2 but outside the coach was pasted as S-2,” says Srinivasa Rao of Vizag, who travelled by that train.

“When someone told me that there was another S-2 coach in front, I rushed there and boarded it. I fail to understand why the railways use numbers like ST-2, when they can use S-15, S-20 and so on. Further, the coach no. was given as S-2 on two different coaches,” he said.

Further, I could not sleep the whole night as the reserved coach was reduced to a ‘general compartment’ with many berths occupied by two or even three passengers. Some of the passengers chatted throughout the night, keeping the lights on. I decided not to travel by the Dhanbad Express again, he added.

B. Madhu Gopal