Travel India: Sense and nonsense of air and train fares

My travel these days is mostly between Chennai and Cochin. Usually I go by train, Second Class AC lower berth. It is a comfortable overnight journey. But on 17^th of this month I had to fly to Cochin and return by train, Third Class AC because no other tickets were available.

During the comparatively long (one and a half hours) ATR flight to Cochin I had a look at the fare structure given on the printout ticket. The break up is: Base fare 1860, Fuel surcharge 2350, Air traffic congestion fee (whatever that means) 150, and something marked WO, 225. Total Rs.4585. Quite steep, I must say. The concession senior citizens used to enjoy, is no longer there.

I had to shell out that much money because of a faux pas. I had asked for ticket by Trivandrum Mail. The departure time of this train from Chennai Central is 8.15 P.M. Just before starting for the railway station I had a look at the ticket and was mortified to find that it was for Trivandrum Express leaving at 4.15 P.M.! I had to book an air ticket online. The moral: always check the ticket as soon as you receive it.

Now, about the train fare. My return ticket was reserved on Tatkal system. In this procedure, after the allotted quota for regular booking is taken up, one can obtain a berth by paying a hefty fee. The more the seats apportioned for Tatkal, the more money the railways make. The total number of seats on the train remains the same.

There is some unfairness about Tatkal. It does not differentiate between senior citizens and others. Everybody pays the same. The very concept of special consideration for the elders is nullified.

Last month onward journey by 2 AC from Chennai to Cochin booked through Tatkal, cost me Rs.1376. For return, again by 2AC, reserved from regular quota was only Rs.795. This month, for return from Cochin by 3AC, booked through Tatkal, the fare was Rs.1093. This does not make sense to me.

Tatkal arrangement could be useful in situations where one has to travel urgently on short notice. But it should not be used as a profit making procedure. Only a minimum number of seats should be kept apart for Tatkal. Again, a just fare structure would be: regular charge minus senior citizen concession plus Tatkal fees.

I hope the Railways would look into this.

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Also see:

Bangalore: Flying in, flying out

The romance of railways

Nightmare on a train

[Due to certain problems I could not post for a week. Hope to restart regular postings. I thank the readers for being patient.]

Last Saturday (19^th) I boarded the Chennai-Trivandrum Mail, for Cochin. This is a fast train (they call it ‘super fast’) by Indian standards. Leaving Chennai at 8p.m., it normally reaches Cochin at 6.45a.m. Each time I travel by this train, there seems to be some improvement in the quality of the rake and standards of cleanliness particularly of the toilets.

I had an early dinner and went to sleep. At about 2 a.m. I woke up, disturbed by the sound of people moving around. The train had stopped. A lady official and a policeman were next to my berth. They asked me to identify my baggage. On asking what was the problem, I was told that an important bag was misplaced and they were looking for it.

I expected the train to restart soon, but the wait continued and I could not get back to sleep. After a couple of hours I went outside and found that the train was parked on a sideline at Podannur Station near Coimbatore. Some people who were standing around in groups told me that there was a bomb scare and expert squads were checking the train.

My first thought was that the officials should have, as a precautionary step, asked the passengers to vacate the train. That of course would have created panic at a time when the passengers were deep asleep. And without any trained person around to guide them, there would have been chaos and people could have got hurt.

Whoever was in charge of the operation took a difficult decision to carry out the search with least disturbance to the travelers. When the train finally resumed the journey after a three-hour stoppage, some people were criticizing the inefficiency of the Railways. Most of them would have realized the reason for the delay only when they read about the bomb scare in the next day’s newspapers.

We certainly have to congratulate and thank the personnel of the bomb squads all over the world. These brave men and women put their lives on line almost every day to save the lives of others.

Ends.

Also see: The romance of railways