'When will trains run on time': Railways minister posts fancy station picture, but passengers want to know just one thing

Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw shared pictures from a railway station that looked nothing short of an international one. He took to social media to share images of a cafeteria of a railway station, and asked Twitterati to guess which place it was. However, instead of guessing which station it was, netizens flooded the comment section with complaints about train delays. Many also took to social media to highlight the condition of trains in the country. 

“Guess this place. Hint: At a railway station,” said Vaishnaw in his tweet. 

While most people complained about the state of affairs at India’s railway stations, the question posed by the minister was left unanswered. The station, it turns out, was Kurseong railway station in Darjeeling. 

One user said that the Haridwar to Bandra special was running 4 hours late, while another asked when Duronto will start running on time. The Barauni-Gondia Express was running 5 hours late, one pointed out, while another pointed out how passenger trains starting from Lucknow to Meerut or Delhi were generally delayed. Another pointed out how the Dehradun Janshatabdi heading towards Haridwar has not “moved an inch in 3 hours”. Yet another user said that he had a reservation on a Bareilly to Delhi train but since it was late by 2 hours, he had to hop onto another one. 

Another complaint made frequently by the netizens is that the trains were not cleaned. A Twitter user said that the Vaishali Express was not cleaned, while another said that the New Jalpaiguri SF Express reached New Delhi in an unclean condition, and left the station like that too, and that no cleaning was done. One said that the Ranchi Rajdhani had pathetic food quality and cleanliness. Yet another user said that the only request railway passengers have from the ministry is to keep water in the toilets and run the trains on time. 

The government has been planning to revamp the railway network as well as monetise acres of spare railways land. It has taken several initiatives to upgrade the ageing infrastructure and the neglected quality of service. The ministry has announced plans to invest $680 billion under the National Rail Plan.  

The government has identified 58 super critical projects of a total length of 3,750 km costing Rs 39,663 crore and 68 critical projects of a total length of 6,913 km costing Rs 75,736 crore, have been identified for completion by 2024.

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