Trains that run on time, are spick and span, have staff that is courteous and the tickets are booked following due course of procedures – the promises were endless but it seems that the time that will be taken to fulfill them is equally so. For all those who were offering this as a justification for dynamic pricing and soaring train fares, they know it is plain eyewash.
A journey to and from Kanpur belied each of these arguments. While going, we were travelling by the overnight Shram Shakti, supposedly the best way to reach what was formerly called the Manchester of the East. The train which was to reach at six in the morning finally pulled into the station at two in the afternoon – a good eight hours late when it takes six hours to cover the distance of 480 odd km. And we were not the only ones. All the trains on the route faced the same problem. And no there was no fog in the middle of a blazing Indian summer or a derailment or an accident. The journey back brought forth another set of woes. We had booked the ticket well in advance – a month and two days to be precise in Rewa Anand Vihar Express. The ticket, as often happens, during a long weekend/holiday was waitlisted at 5. We hoped, given the duration, that it would eventually be confirmed. It wasn’t. We tried our luck at the current bookings counter. We failed. And then a coolie, who was loitering about, suggested that there were ‘confirmed tickets’ to be had in the very same train – at a price of course. Double the cost. While the coolie was true to his word, it is clear that Indian Railways, for all its digital transparency, is yet to rid itself of the menace of touting. And the system is so infected that one man can override it.