Indian Railways has decided to put an end to the endless bickering that arises due to the oversleeping passengers. They have planned to put this plan on effect by reducing the sleeping hours on the reserved coaches with sleeping facilities. Earlier the sleeping hours for the reserved coaches of Indian Trains where from 9:00 pm to 6:00 am.
But in reality passengers are sleeping more than the allotted time period. Due to this reason co-passenger are suffering. This is also the main reason behind some quarrels in the Trains of Indian Railways. In some case passengers have also been seen, sleeping directly after boarding the train. This mannerism have raised inconvenience for the other passengers who are due to board the train.
“It is a regular bone of contention among passengers. Once, there was a passenger on the lower berth who slept all through the journey from Kolkata to Delhi. While the man on the upper berth had to remain there and others on the middle berth sat perched in one corner of the lower berth through the trip. All through the journey, they kept taking digs at the sleeping man and even poking him. This happens all the time on trains,” said Sachin Singh, a businessman and a frequent travelers between Delhi to Kolkata.
The new Sleeping Hours of Indian Railways
Due to the recent event officials have planned to change the allotted sleeping hours of Indian Trains by one hours. As we have seen the old sleeping hours was from 9:00 pm to 6:00 am. But now as per the circular of 31st August it said “Sleeping accommodation between 2200 hours and 0600 hours and sitting accommodation for the rest of the period is provided for the passengers in the reserved coaches having sleeping accommodation.”
The rule also states that the passenger of side upper berth will not have any claim of the lower berth between 10 pm to 6 am. To put it differently sleeping hours is only for sleeping and rest of the period for enjoying the ride. However, this rule is exempted for the elderly people, people with disability, and pregnant lady. In other words, people with health issue can sleep little longer even after implementation of sleeping hours. And Officials have requested passengers to cooperate with them.
Officials also said that the new directive will help Traveling Ticket Examiner (TTE) to resolve such disputes on board by preventing anyone from taking naps beyond the allotted time.
The new provision will replace the paragraph 652 in the Indian Railways Commercial Manual, Volume I, which was for sleeping accommodation between 9 pm and 6 am.
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