Calcutta, Jan. 20 :    Calcutta, Jan. 20:  When 60-year-old Jyotirmoy Chatterjee pushed himself into a compartment and and managed a toehold on the Chandanpur local from Howrah on Sunday, he felt something amiss. Strains of a popular Rabindrasangeet - Eki labanyey punya pran, pranesho hey - greeted his ears. He looked up to see where the song was coming from. It was being played over a loudspeaker fitted in one corner of the ceiling. Like Chatterjee, passengers on local trains over the weekend were subjected to the same surprise. Seeking to provide relief to harried commuters, the railway authorities have introduced piped music in the compartments from Saturday. The numbers range from Rabindrasangeet to popular adhuniks by Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, Manna Dey and Shyamal Mitra, as also the latest Jibanmukhi genre of Kabir Suman and Nachiketa. Another big surprise was the the announcements - a la Metro - of the approaching station and the direction of the platform. Divisional railway manager of Howrah, Swapan Chowdhury, said apart from songs, announcements of the names of the approaching stations and the side the platform will fall on are also being made on the public address system installed in compartments of local trains on the Howrah-Burdwan Main and Chord sections. Part of the inspiration was derived from the announcements and advertisement jingles on the Metro Railway trains, he said. 'It is our duty to improve passenger amenities and minimise their grievances. So, we decided on the new mode of entertainment. Besides, the announcements on stations and platform numbers will work towards reducing the tension of commuters who are not daily passengers,' said Chowdhury. Gradually, the music and announcements will be introduced on all sections. 'We are also thinking in terms of installing framed paintings in local train compartments for better visuals during a tiresome and monotonous journey,' said Chowdhury.