[sanju.iitm]

Hi All,

Last sunday I travelled by train from Mysore to Bangalore (Mailaduthurai Express) and had a horryfying incident which I would like to share with you all.

I am almost travelling b/w Mysore and Bangalore every weekend as I my wife delivered a cute baby girl on Nov 4th and she is there with her parents now. I sometimes drive else take KSRTC Airavath.This time I thought I travel by train. I reserved Sleeper class (S7), I had cold so thought of avoiding AC coach. I reached mysore rly station at 3.40pm as the train is scheduled to leave at 3.45pm and reach Blore by 6.15pm. I saw huge crowd on the platform no 1, I stood near the place where S7 is expected. To my surprise bunch of people were waiting for the train to arrive. I just thought how come these many people can book a Sleeper Class for such a small journey. The train came to platform 15min late,I saw people were restless and as soon as train hit the platform,these people almost jumped into all reserved compartments.

Since I had the reservation I thought I will wait for my turn instead of rushing inside, but my turn didn't come as people started to fill and not even a inch space was available to get inside the compartment. It was time for train to leave and I was still on platform as I didnt find space to get inside. Some how I made space and entered the bogie and found people sitting on all berths (almost 5 to 6 ppl on a singe berth) and few standing obstructing to reach my berth which was a Side Lower (SL). I found 5 people sitting on my berth. There were more or less 200 people inside the reserved compartment (S7) which has a capacity of 72 berts. Intially I requested, but they didn' listen and later I raised my voice - "I have reservation Plz give me some space to sit on my berth". I found all the ppl inside were having an unreserved ticket and were sitting inside illegaly without the fear of TC. I threatened them to complain to TC but they didn't care. Some how I managed to to find a small place to sit on my berth.

One guy who was sitting next to me on my berth almost looked like a beggar,with his paijama and rotten smell from his body. I didn't had any choice so I just sat quietly. The train only stops twice before reaching Blr that's the reason all ppl catch this train. The person looking like a beggar (a drunkard as well) asked me ""Are you working for INFOSYS??"" I just told no and laughed like anything till I reached my stop. I thought how this IT has made impact on us (indians).

People who dnt know how to behave well in the public or ocuppy others reserved seats,who doesn't have civic sence etc etc but still they are aware of Indian IT firms. It was an total embrassment to me.

What bothered me was: The TC didn't come in the whole journey and when I enquired with that beggar looking person and found he travles everyday like this. I also found many educated ppl travelling like this everytime.

So guys incase anyone plan to travel by this train by "Sleeper class" then plz avoid this,not sure how it is in AC coaches. I had heard these kind of situations are quite often in north india but I was surpised to see this in my hometown.

Thanks for reading this post without any photos of the incident.

Many Thanks

Sanjeev

PS:- Infy guys dnt take me in other way. I just got shcoked to hear infy name from almost a beggar. So just thought of sharing with all. Hope you enjoyed?

[arvind71181]

First time I am hearing something like this happening in the southern trains. Good that you said you did not work for the company. Maybe they would have tried to fleece you if you did.

Were there no other people who had originally reserved tickets? Did no one raise a voice against all these people? I dont understand how only you fought while all the others just kept quiet. Or is it that no one else even booked tickets on this train knowing their fate?

[speedmiester]

Well I am not surprised by this incident. My friends and I are asked this question many times. Not just while traveling, but also while shopping at the market, getting an haircut, just having a nice time at a watering hole etc.
Though I am not in the IT industry anymore I always say "yes" and carry on with your business.
This will stop further questions or advice like
"Then which company are you working for?"
"Why? didn't you get a job in Infy?"
"Why are you not in IT, did you not get good marks?"
"My far far far relative works there, you should try getting a job in Infy"

Maybe they would have tried to fleece you if you did.

No, they will not try to fleece you, but start unwanted conversations and irritate you further.

[johnjacob]

My cousin had a similar experience when travelling from Kerala to Bangalore. He pulled the chain of the coach, and didn't allow the train to leave until he was able to get his berth.

Of course, he was with a group and he is good at handling this sort of conflict situations.

[xingamazon]

Well the incident is shocking to me, cos I am a regular in the Chennai - Mysore and Chennai - Bangalore mail routes. Never have I come across something like this I also travel in Non-AC compartments.

But of course the day trains are a horrible exp, not in Night train have I come across something like this ( thouch wood )

[speedmiester]

The problem with overcrowding train is due to the disparity between the prices of Bus and Train. Since the train fare is half of that of bus, the crowd is uncontrollable. It doesn't matter whether you have reservation or not, people don't care. After one such incident I stopped traveling to Mysore by train. I prefer volvos or I take my car.

[rk_sans]

Sanjeev,
Sunday travel from Mysore to bangalore is always like this. I believe you must be knowing even the buses are full on sunday evening and also road from mysore to bangalore is jam packed.
Even TC cannot do anything on these days.
Moreover the cost between a train and volvo is almost 10 times, so people take the train route.

[amitoj]

I am not sure why you all are surprised!
Sleeper reservations dont take effect until its night time, even in AC coaches and yes, even in the South.
I was traveling from Kottayam to Bangalore in 2nd AC and even that coach had people who were traveling without reservation. But none of those people were doing a night journey so they all got off before the time came to hit the berths. Oh and yes, the TT was well aware of these people since he came to check our reservations.
In the OP's case, since the journey gets over by 6:15PM, having a sleeper reservation is pointless. In fact, i am surprised this train has sleeper coaches!

[joshguy]

This happens in almost all trains going towards kerela from chennai,coimbatore ect.

From palakad people get into the coach and sit right next to you as if they have reserved it.

The most irritating thing is that it happend even in 3rd AC ,when i travelled last month.

The railway authorities are to be blamed for this as they allow passenger to purchase ticket and allow them to travell IF PLACE IS AVAILABLE,but people forget that and break the rule and sit even if there are no place.

[narayan]

Originally Posted by amitoj

I am not sure why you all are surprised!
Sleeper reservations dont take effect until its night time, even in AC coaches and yes, even in the South.
I was traveling from Kottayam to Bangalore in 2nd AC and even that coach had people who were traveling without reservation. But none of those people were doing a night journey so they all got off before the time came to hit the berths. Oh and yes, the TT was well aware of these people since he came to check our reservations.
In the OP's case, since the journey gets over by 6:15PM, having a sleeper reservation is pointless. In fact, i am surprised this train has sleeper coaches!

you are still required to travel in reserved coaches only with a reserved ticket.

anyway one should check out the trains up north ( no offense ) - many people dont even bother to buy the tickets. i have seen passengers just tipping the TTR

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by narayan

you are still required to travel in reserved coaches only with a reserved ticket.

"Required" doesn't get translated to "happens" anywhere across the country, be it north or south.
I have also seen the same tipping behavior down south as well.

[arsudarsan]

No surprise this. Both this train and Mysore Tuticourin express are the same. Both trains act as reserved ones between Bangalore - Trichy and Bangalore Madurai respectively. For the rest of the journey, they are just normal passenger trains.

[MX6]

One of my uncles travelled first time between Mumbai and chennai in sleeper class. He had 3 people sleep on the floor of the train in day time below his seats.
Now he's worked up as there are women sitting there and irrespective of that three huge men are lying down on the floor staring at teh women.

When my uncle asked them to get up and go to unreserved coach if they don't have a reservation, one of them responded audaciously.
You have a berth. So you sit there and shut up. I'm not coming to your berth. So you don't tell me about my floor. - A crass translation.

That was the last time he travelled by sleeper.

This crowd apathy and rogue mentality is one of the major reasons I put forward when going on a trip driving along. Else my wife still thinks it is the 80s and prefers to travel only by trains. Thanks to these morons who now do anything in any train (including graffitti on train toilets, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari), I manage to convince my wife to stay away from trains and travel by car.

p.s. Aargee. Graffitti is a national phenomena. I graciously agree. So don't keep putting off that trip to Pune.

[vishnurp99]

Actually the IT firms especially infy has invested a lot in PR and this explains why people have heard of the names. However most of the folks even some educated folks have no idea of Infy the company, how much a normal infy guy with say 8-9 year experience earns etc. A lot of folks think that all infy guys are crorepatis and they have salary of atleast a lakh/month.

About the train reservation, as far as i understand you have reservation for berths at night time.

Where ignorance is bliss, It's folly to be wise . So if you are in a place where rules are flouted routinely without any penalty, being educated we should flout the rules more efficiently. I hope you get my drift.

[sanju.iitm]

There was a family of six who had reservation ticket and the head of the family was a senior citizen who fought very brave to save his seats from invading enemys (he he) into his cabin. On otherside the enemy used foul languages while invading, but the senior citizen also had to use the same to save his seats. You won't believe when I saw the reservation chart which was put on the coach for S7 had 50% occupancy (as per the list) but the coach was filled with 200% its capacity.

When I tried to save my fort no one (who had reserved ticket) joined me or didn't even say a single word supporting me and I knew our people sit quite while one is fighting as we are in peace loving country. I had faced this kind of situation while travelling in 1st class coach b/w Chennai and Tirupathi where I had booked 1st class for a 3.5hr jouney to have a peaceful journey but even there many people had entered our cabin. If one raises voice anything can happen in the uncivilised crowd,also depends on situation and if one is travelling with family then it is a risk.