Among them was Thane-resident Valsarajan Nair, who called it the worst commuting experience of his life.
Hundreds of passengers on the special 09310 Indore-Kochuveli Suvidha Express had a torrid time on Wednesday and Thursday as the train's water supply played truant and its toilets started choking and then overflowing. To rub it in, the train was part of the Suvidha scheme, where the fare can go as high as three times the Tatkal fare for other trains on the same route. Several Mumbaikars who boarded the train from Panvel for their destination stations in Kerala, paid almost Rs3,000 for 3rd AC tickets.
Among them was Thane-resident Valsarajan Nair, who called it the worst commuting experience of his life. Nair boarded the train at Panvel on Wednesday around 1.30pm. He, along with his wife and son and another relative, were booked in coach B3.
"We soon realised that despite having charged us for catering, there was no food available. Then we realised that the water supply to toilets in coaches B3 and B4 had stopped. Soon, toilets were a mess and it was stinking inside the compartments. The air-conditioning and the lack of air circulation was making the stench even worse," Nair told dna over phone.
In fact, there was more commuting horrors in store as the railway staff on the train and at stations en route pleaded helplessness. "I filed a complaint with the Chiplun station manager when the train reached there in the evening. However, it was not of any help because the water supply to the washrooms did not get restored at all," said Nair.
By Thursday morning, the toilets of coach B1 had overflown, with some of the water flowing into the coach, said Nair. "It is unfortunate that the railways talks about giving passengers comfort, but is a total failure when a situation like this arises. Most want to pass the buck on to the other and the passenger is the loser," said Nair.
Repeated attempts to reach Western Railway officials was in vain. A message sent to Manoj Sharma, divisional railway manager (DRM) Ratlam, went unanswered. The train is run by the Ratlam division of WR.
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