Confirmed Ticket, No Seat: Unhappy passenger shares his experience of his train journey

Recently, numerous grievances arose regarding overcrowding on trains. One particular complaint highlighted a passenger's ordeal on an Indian Railways journey, where he had to stand throughout the entire trip despite having a confirmed ticket.

Passenger stands for the entire train journey

Taking to the social media platform, X, formerly known as Twitter, Abhas Kumar Shrivastava shared his displeasing encounter. He described the initial challenges of navigating through the crowded Rourkela Intercity train to reach his designated seat. Upon reaching his reserved seat, Shrivastava discovered a pregnant woman occupying it. Rather than requesting her to vacate the seat, he opted to remain standing by the train door throughout the two-hour journey. In his social media post, the disgruntled passenger ironically expressed gratitude to Indian Railways, IRCTC, and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for compelling him to stand despite holding a reserved ticket for the intercity train.

“Reserved a seat 4 days prior and got a confirmed ticket. It was only after somehow entering the train I realised I couldn't even reach my seat number 64,” he wrote. “After an hour when I reached my seat, I found a pregnant lady sitting on it, so just left and stood at the gate for two hours. Thank you for so memorable a journey and a confirmed ticket to let me stand for the entire trip.”

In addition to his post, he uploaded a photo depicting a train coach packed with passengers. The train's corridor was also congested, leaving little room for movement. In the comments section, Shrivastava clarified that he had reserved a seat in the second seater or 2S class, a non-AC coach commonly found in daytime Intercity and Janshatabdi trains. Nevertheless, due to the overwhelming presence of ticketless passengers in his coach, he remarked that the experience felt akin to travelling in the General class. Upon observing comments from multiple individuals in the comments section, suggesting that Shrivastava may have unintentionally entered the wrong coach based on the layout in his picture, he explained:
 

Just a week prior, another passenger travelling with Indian Railways raised concerns about ticketless individuals occupying coaches designated for those with reserved tickets. Swati Raj posted a video from her trip on Mahananda Express, illustrating the corridor of her AC first-tier coach filled with male passengers.