Ripples on the brain

I found it hard to believe when a colleague mentioned that Indian Railways has introduced side middle berths in most of the coaches of trains starting from Chennai. Middle berths themselves were new to people who travelled in meter gauge trains. When I first encountered them, I found them so inconvenient. They were good in the day time, but were inadequate to accomodate tall passengers.

When I made those journeys between home and hostel during my engineering days, I remember always trying to squeeze myself into the side berths and always ending up sleepy the next day. One consolation was that atleast the side berths had more vertical space when compared to the regular berths in sleeper coaches.

But now, Lalu, with an eye on short term profits, has introduced middle berths in all sleeper coaches. Just a look at a photo in the Hindu (4th December Madurai edition) made me feel claustrophobic! Without any change in passenger space or other amenities (like restrooms), they have managed to increase the number of passengers in a coach. In the day time, the additional passengers will sit in the regular lower berths, so each regular bay will accomodate 7 instead of 6 passengers while sitting. Moreover, I hear that even three tier AC coaches have not been spared. At a time when Indian Railways is drawing flak from outside on the design of its toilets, this clearly goes on to show the utter disregard for event basic hygiene and comfort for the passengers.