Friday, 25 April 2025
Friday, 25 April 2025
You’ve got to feel sorry for railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
“In a first, ATM facility in train,” Vaishnaw announced on Wednesday, sharing a video of a functioning ATM onboard the Mumbai-Manmad Panchavati Express.
But instead of applause, the announcement triggered a wave of sarcasm and trolling, with many users asking if basic amenities like clean toilets and seating could get a turn before cash-withdrawal kiosks.
The Central Railway (CR) has installed the ATM, provided by a private bank, in the air-conditioned chair car coach of the Panchavati Express on an experimental basis.
Officials said the machine has been tucked into a cubicle at the rear end of the coach and has been fitted with a shutter door to keep it safe and accessible during travel.
While the initiative may be a step towards modernising long-distance travel, social media users were not exactly sold on the idea.
One user set the tone with a sarcastic swipe: “Minister ji after solving a problem that didn’t even exist in the first place be like...” The tweet was a reminder that most passengers weren’t exactly clamouring for cash-withdrawal options mid-journey.
If that was a jab, the next was an uppercut. “ATM gets a seat on Indian Railways while the public travels in toilets,” a user wrote, cutting to the core of the everyday struggle for reserved seats and clean restrooms.
The irony didn’t go unnoticed, especially by those who’ve spent entire journeys standing near the toilet door.
Another tweet pointed out the contradiction between pushing for digital India and installing a cash-vending machine in a coach.
“First they did demonetisation to push for a cashless India, now they’re installing ATMs in trains,” the tweet read.
But the sharpest hit was probably this one: “We are going to have ATMs on the same trains where metal mugs are chained in the toilet so no one steals them.”
When your toilet infrastructure requires anti-theft measures for mugs, critics argued, an ATM feels more like a prop than progress.
Some replies leaned darker in tone. “Railway has introduced an ATM machine inside the train so that if you are caught travelling without a ticket, you can easily bribe the TT,” one user quipped, layering the announcement with scepticism about everyday corruption.
Another post summed it up: “When people needed clean toilets and seats, they gave ATMs on the train.” Beneath the humour was apparently a sentiment that says flashy upgrades mean little when the basics still feel like a luxury.
Indian Railways is no stranger to innovation. Since the Modi government took over, the ministry has introduced Vande Bharat trains, solar-powered coaches and upgraded stations.
However, critics have often pointed to the gap between flashy upgrades and the dismal state of basic infrastructure.
Whether the ATM-on-wheels idea will catch on or be quietly unplugged remains to be seen. But for now, the internet has made it clear: the loo must come before the cash.
