E-Paper
Rail communication: Faulty system, less staff
TRAIN NUMBER 5 LKM is arriving shortly on platform number 8, an announcement is made at about 8.30 pm. And the train chugs in at 8.50 pm. Similarly, another announcement is made, platform of the LKM from Lucknow has been changed. It will now arrive on platform number 7. Passengers rush for another platform only to see the train has arrived already.
TRAIN NUMBER 5 LKM is arriving shortly on platform number 8, an announcement is made at about 8.30 pm. And the train chugs in at 8.50 pm.
Similarly, another announcement is made, platform of the LKM from Lucknow has been changed. It will now arrive on platform number 7. Passengers rush for another platform only to see the train has arrived already.
Train number 2420 (Gomti Express) from Delhi arrives at Kanpur station at 9.15 pm. About a month back, till 9.12 pm, the announcement could be heard that Gomti would arrive on platform number 8 scheduled time 9.15 pm. However, at 9.16 pm, announcement is again made that Gomti Express is expected to arrive about 20 minutes late on platform no 8.
Such last minute changes and announcements continue to create stampede-like situation at the Kanpur Central Station more often. Yet nothing much has been done to improve the situation.
Reasons galore: Over the years, number of trains passing through Kanpur Central Railway station has increased manifold, while the staff holding responsibility of informing passengers and coordinating with other stations has remained 18 for several years, thus affecting smooth communication service at the station.
Passengers have to wait till the last minute before they can get the right information about the train they want to board.
On an average, nearly 220 passenger trains pass through Kanpur daily, besides, of course, three-dozen goods trains.
These 18 persons hold the responsibility of briefing passengers about the timing of trains besides, coordinating with communication staff at four hot line stations — Mugalsarai, Varanasi, Lucknow and Allahabad. Kanpur Central Station is connected through hotline with these stations, whereas the staff at Central Control office here get the position of trains from Tundla, Allahabad, Jhansi and Lucknow.
A staff member in the central control office said that after years of efforts department succeeded in re-connecting the phone line with Jhansi “but the system has flaw, as the voice is not audible due to disturbances”.
Interestingly, even the staff at Kanpur Central railway station feel that the old mode of communication based on feeding was better than the existing internet based communication system.
Ironically, the 18 employees at the Central Control office work in three shifts of 8 hours each and in each shift, 6 persons are expected to be at the Central Control room but only 3 remain there. A source said, “One of the staff has to be present at city side enquiry counter and 2 hold the position at the Cantonment side enquiry office and the remaining 3 present in the Central Control office concentrating hard for 8 hours.”
A staff said the main reason behind miscommunication is the frequency of trains reaches at its peak from 8 pm to 1 am. “More than 60 super fast trains pass through Kanpur Central including 3-5 Rajdhani Express trains on down route from Delhi side to Kanpur and further during this period and due to over-stress of work, often information is not passed on to passengers.
All this is done some times intentionally to avoid the wrath of passengers, as the information about the position of trains many a time does not reach Central Control office due to faulty communication system,” said an employee of the North-Central Railway.
Even staff at the Central Control office accepted the fact that it was not possible for them to locate the accurate running of trains, as it is unscientific to assume at what speed the driver would be running the train.
Expressing his view over miscommunication about train’s arrival and departure time, deputy chief traffic manager Dr R Bharadwaj said, “We get the position of trains every half-an-hour and it is not on the basis of real time.”
