Unlimited issue of unreserved tickets lead to packed general coaches

South Central Railway running special trains during festive season, facing overcrowding issues in general coaches, lack of coordination.

South Central Railway (SCR), like rest of the railway zones, is running hundreds of special trains (850), mostly towards Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during the current Deepavali and Chhath festive season and this year, the Railways Ministry has ordered the Railway Protection Force (RPF) to ensure an orderly entry into the coaches at major stations.

But the issue is, trains are more than packed to capacity despite general coaches having been increased from two to four. Moreover, Railways do not put any limit on the issuance of the unreserved general tickets daily despite knowing pretty well there is not an inch of space to even stand inside the trains at the start itself. With reserved AC bogies booked in advance and tickets not issued after waiting lists are full, for many, general compartments are the only means of travel. “Unreserved tickets are issued for destination and not for a specific train. Hence, tickets are issued liberally with most passengers, at least, those travelling in general coaches wanting to reach their hometown even if they get a foothold,” points out a Railway official, pleading anonymity.

In fact, there is no coordination mechanism between different departments like commercial or traffic in the Railways to assess how many general tickets have been issued and in which direction when, perhaps a decision can be taken to whether to continue issuing them or not, admits the official.

“Passengers are left to fend for themselves in the long-distance trains up to Darbhanga, Raxaul, Patna or other stations in Bihar or Gorakhpur and Muzaffarnagar in UP as they are ready to get into any train in that direction. Just an orderly entry into coaches does not make sense when tickets are issued beyond the trains carrying capacity at the origination station itself,” says another official.

With the Railways dispensing with running all-general-coach trains or ‘Jan Sadharan’ trains (save for a few services towards Santragachi near Howrah) as they are considered ‘uneconomical’ passengers are forced to travel in the available packed general coaches. Also, the Railway lines towards the north are clogged to capacity with the zones there unable to spare lines or time to allow running more trains from down south, adds the official.