I had to travel from Ahmedabad to Mumbai (Bandra terminus) on 2nd February 2013. All trains were having long waitlists. So decided to go for Tatkal on 1st February through irctc. But as usual failed to get a ticket. Decided that now onwards always go to station to book tatkal. I thought of travelling by bus but later thought that its better to go by sitting in train than in a bus. Decided to travel in 19144 Lokshakti express on 2nd February 2013 from Ahmedabad to Mumbai in general coach. I thought being one of the many trains connecting Ahmedabad and Mumbai the crowd would be relatively less and I would at least get a seat for me. But things turned out to be completely different. The train has 4 general coaches two at front end and two at rear end of the train. The passengers are not allowed to board...
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the two rear coaches from Ahmedabad. Please somebody tell me why. The day, on which I travelled i.e. Saturday, there was a huge crowd which formed a long queue for the front two general coaches. I had reached Ahmedabad station at 19:15 for the train to catch at 21:05 but waited at some other platform because i never expected to have such a long queue of passengers waiting to board a train. When i reached the spot there was no room to sit as all seats got occupied by the passengers who were waiting in queue. The general coach that i boarded had a different luggage rack than the normal racks of wood (thankfully flat) that we see on trains which people use as seats to travel instead of putting their luggage. First of all the rack was too high to sit straight as there was not enough head room. Only the person who was on the aisle side could sit properly and that too only if that person was not too tall. The second person if he wishes had to lie down in uncomfortable state. The shape of the luggage rack was also not good for sitting. It was made up of steel and had round metal bars running straight down the length. There was also a huge gap of 3 inches between two bars. This made sitting on the luggage rack extremely painful. The outside edge of the rack was also raised a bit presumably to prevent the luggage from falling down but in Indian railways it’s the people who travel as luggage and I was in pain for the entire night. Inside there was the usual crowd of people occupying (read blocking) the entrance to the coach. People were sitting , sleeping, standing and doing everything else in the passages that they could do to pass the night. Imagine going to toilet in such situation. There was no space to put the luggage(extra luggage) and people were fighting over it. I saw one young lady went standing through the entire journey. I guess it was better to stand than to lie down as me on the luggage rack with folded legs. Thankfully the temperatures were good at this time of the year. Imagine this during the prime of summer or during high humidity. The crowd got less only at Borivali. At Andheri I decided that I had enough of this pain and got down. Though I have travelled in general coaches innumerable times but this was the worst journey I had to do. Thankfully the return journey was by karnavati express and I had a seat in 2S class for 3rd February i.e. the same day . My back was in pain because of last night’s journey but I managed 8 hours journey in karnavati express very comfortably (relatively).