I had booked reservation for my relative on Danapur Tata Express (Train no. 18184) for 18.03.12 in 2S (chair car) class from Patna to Jamtara. On getting inside the train I found that all seats were occupied by commuters without reservation, who were not only refusing to let genuine ticket holders onto their reserved seats but were also threatening them. On enquiry I found that this is an everyday situation and reservations don't mean anything on this train. I tried to find any TTE who could help me, but there was none in sight. Not only that, no TTE entered the compartment till the time my relative got down at Jamtara leaving all bonafide passengers including women, children and old people at the mercy of ruffians. Most of the passengers with bonafide reservations had to travel standing while their seats were occupied by people who most probably didn't even have general class tickets.
I ask a simple question to railway authorities-- If you don't have the capacity to provide seats why do you go to the charade of reserving seats. This is not a thing that happened on one day but it is an everyday affair as endorsed by several passengers who I talked to on the train. And this is true of a few other tarins running on this line.
Can I expect that railways will take effective steps to free this train from the clutches of ruffians? Can the railways take action against the TTEs who were assigned to this train but didn't even enter the compartment?
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An email communication has been sent to Indian Railways on March 18, 2012, 9:12 pm
I support your vision that TTE and CRPF alongwith GRP must be made responsible for that terrible situation.