August 29, 2008
V Ayyappan TNN
Chennai: Extra side berths in sleeper and air-conditioned coaches may have helped the railways add capacity, but they are inconveniencing passengers. Passengers of two trains - Chennai-Mangalore Express and Mangalore- Chennai Express - had a harrowing experience because the coaches with three side berths did not get reflected on the tickets. Several passengers who were allotted berths in the ‘capacity enhanced’ sleeper coaches had a tough time finding their seats/berths because there was a mismatch between the numbers printed on the tickets and on the chart. Passengers who found others sitting in the seats meant for them were shocked to see a different berth number against their name on the chart. Passengers of S2 coach of Chennai-Mangalore Express on August 15 found out that their berth numbers moved one number up in the chart. A passenger who got a reservation for lower berth 15 actually got berth 16 in the train. “This caus
ed confusion among passengers because many preferred to go by the number printed on the ticket and started arguing with one another,” said P Sumitha, a passenger. The travelling ticket examiner (TTE) had to be approached to solve the problem. He had to re-allot all the seats according to the numbers printed on the chart. In addition to the inconvenience of having to put up with the cramped space on the side berths, passengers found that they also missed their preference of berths when the seats were re-allotted as per the numbers on the chart. Passengers who got lower berths as per the ticket had to contend with either a middle berth or an upper berth. As the train started from Chennai, passengers could access the chart. However, passengers of the Mangalore-Chennai Express on August 21 were not that fortunate. “In the return direction, passengers who board the train from wayside stations like Kozhikode, Palakkad, Tiruppur and Salem could not verify the chart because it was on the platform-side of the train. As the train reached Palakkad around 10.30 pm, those who boarded from the station had to wake up those sleeping on the berth,” said a passenger. “I was woken up by a bunch of boys who thought I had encroached one of their berths. It was quite embarrassing because I had to explain the whole confusion to them and also request them to verify the chart. This they could not do because the train had started moving by that time,” added Sumitha. A senior railway officer said, “Such mismatch should not happen because the formation of the coaches is feeded into the server when the train is opened for reservation. There must be an error at the time the information was fed.”
V Ayyappan TNN
Chennai: Extra side berths in sleeper and air-conditioned coaches may have helped the railways add capacity, but they are inconveniencing passengers. Passengers of two trains - Chennai-Mangalore Express and Mangalore- Chennai Express - had a harrowing experience because the coaches with three side berths did not get reflected on the tickets. Several passengers who were allotted berths in the ‘capacity enhanced’ sleeper coaches had a tough time finding their seats/berths because there was a mismatch between the numbers printed on the tickets and on the chart. Passengers who found others sitting in the seats meant for them were shocked to see a different berth number against their name on the chart. Passengers of S2 coach of Chennai-Mangalore Express on August 15 found out that their berth numbers moved one number up in the chart. A passenger who got a reservation for lower berth 15 actually got berth 16 in the train. “This caus
ed confusion among passengers because many preferred to go by the number printed on the ticket and started arguing with one another,” said P Sumitha, a passenger. The travelling ticket examiner (TTE) had to be approached to solve the problem. He had to re-allot all the seats according to the numbers printed on the chart. In addition to the inconvenience of having to put up with the cramped space on the side berths, passengers found that they also missed their preference of berths when the seats were re-allotted as per the numbers on the chart. Passengers who got lower berths as per the ticket had to contend with either a middle berth or an upper berth. As the train started from Chennai, passengers could access the chart. However, passengers of the Mangalore-Chennai Express on August 21 were not that fortunate. “In the return direction, passengers who board the train from wayside stations like Kozhikode, Palakkad, Tiruppur and Salem could not verify the chart because it was on the platform-side of the train. As the train reached Palakkad around 10.30 pm, those who boarded from the station had to wake up those sleeping on the berth,” said a passenger. “I was woken up by a bunch of boys who thought I had encroached one of their berths. It was quite embarrassing because I had to explain the whole confusion to them and also request them to verify the chart. This they could not do because the train had started moving by that time,” added Sumitha. A senior railway officer said, “Such mismatch should not happen because the formation of the coaches is feeded into the server when the train is opened for reservation. There must be an error at the time the information was fed.” 
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