I travelled by above train on 03.10.11, on G10/55/LB from LTT to TCR. The seats/berth numbers on that boggie were all altered by pencil/sketch pen, creating confusion to all passengers. It came to our knowledge much later that 84 people were issued confirmed tickets in that boggie (even though tbe boggie strength was only 75) and we were required to adhere to numbers written in pencil. After much persuation by some of the passengers, a TTR came to the boggie and said that we had to do so and left in a hurry. (He did not even care to check the tickets of passengers as we feel that, he himself was uncomfortable with the situation). Seasoned travellers revealed that the middle berth on the side were discontinued by the Railways after complaints by the public some time ago (which was also published in all national priting/visual meda) and those berths were removed from all Garib Rath trains. What is strange is that most of the other boggies in our train were having only 75 tickets issued; hence no problem.
The question is: If the middle side berth was discontinued by the Railways in all trains, why is that this particular train had such berths and why 84 tickets were issued? Does it mean that Railways has two (or more) sets of rules for different parts of the country? I was one of the unfortunate passengers who had to share the seat with 3 other people while sitting (i.e. 4 in place of 3).
It is common knowledge that the Garib Rath's space within the compartment is smaller than that normal 3AC in other trains (other trains have only 64 berths, whereas Garib Rath has 75). This we can understand as the fare in Garib Rath is lesser than similar berths in other trains.
I would like to receive a credible reply to the above. I am not seeking a reimbursement or things like that, but requesting that such situations are NOT allowed to happen again. For that, all the middle side berths should be removed from all the Garib Rath trains IMMEDIATELY,