Cockroaches inside an air-conditioned compartment of Santragachhi-Tirupati Superfast Express. Picture courtesy Sanghita Sen

Indian Railways never ceases to surprise its commuters. The surprise package is rarely pleasant, but often turns out to be scary. Bhubaneswar-bound passenger Sanghita Sen, who teaches English at Kalyani Government Engineering College in Bengal, recounts her nightmarish experience aboard the AC-II tier coach of the Santragachhi-Tirupati Superfast Express.

This was one bargain I was not prepared for when I decided to take the 22855 UP Santragachhi-Tirupati Superfast Express on my way to Bhubaneswar this Sunday. Though on a different plane, it has been an experience worthy of mention.

Armed with an AC-IItier ticket, I boarded coach No. A1 of the superfast train and headed for berth No. 1. The train was scheduled to leave at 4.06pm from Santragachhi, which is a few kilometres from Howrah station, and I was inside the compartment by 3.30pm. Once inside, it felt like furnace. Yet I moved on and spotted my allotted berth. To my anguish, I found a huge sack carrying bedroll dumped on it. With coach attendants not in the vicinity, I left the compartment and waited on the platform for 15 minutes.

When I returned to my allotted berth, I felt relieved to see the “intruder” missing from my seat. The AC was up and running by then and I thought of sitting down. But that’s when things went awry. The least that I had expected in a premier class compartment began to unfold before my eyes. As I pulled down the bed to settle down, a swarm of bugs and cockroaches (apparently unsettled by my intrusion in their peaceful abode) unleashed themselves all over the place.

One thing was clear — whatever might be the cleanliness, pest control and maintenance stipulation for an AC compartment, this coach hasn’t seen one in ages.

As I had to travel on that berth, I had no option but to kill the pests. I picked up my shoe and killed around 20-25 cockroaches to make my seat suitable for occupancy. In the meantime, my co-passengers had arrived and among them was a couple from Bhubaneswar. They had a toddler and were allotted berths 2 and 4. When I told them about the pest fiasco, the passenger of berth No. 3 made some space to accommodate the child in his seat. But that, too, emerged as a safe haven for bugs and a peek below the berth showed that the compartment had not been taken to the cleaning yard for a long time.

This time, four of us tried killing the bugs and roaches to make the seats suitable for the journey.

When the travelling ticket examiner (TTE) arrived, we told him about our travails. The gentleman tried sincerely to address the issues by summoning the cleaning staff. As one of the workers began to spray pesticide, more bugs and roaches made their public appearance. By now the entire coach was full of pests. By then, the TTE began getting complaints from other compartments as well.

Angry and frustrated as we were, the passengers decided to lodge a complaint at least to make a point.

Every time India has a new railway minister, the person gets busy using the establishment to secure his or her political future by increasing the number of trains. Improving infrastructure is last on their priority. Rejected bogies get recycled and coloured as ministers play to the gallery with the confidence that hiccups like the one we encountered will soon be forgotten as public memory is short. They are also well aware that such “trivial” incidents will not jeopardise their political ambition.

They know that creating better condition and offering improved services do not add to the success-credential of railway ministers, but more trains do.

Consequently, hapless passengers like us are left with pest-infested compartments, dirty and smelly toilets and often stale tasteless food.