Unauthorised passengers flood reserved coaches of Sampoorna Kranti Express

Patna: Passengers travelling from Patna to New Delhi by the Rajendra Nagar Terminal-New Delhi Sampoorna Kranti Express (12393) on Monday faced severe inconvenience due to large-scale unauthorised travel by local commuters in the reserved 3 AC coaches.According to aggrieved passengers, the situation turned chaotic soon after the train departed from Patna Junction as hundreds of daily commuters, travelling up to Ara and Buxar, allegedly entered the reserved 3 AC coaches without valid reservations.Sumit Saurabh, travelling in the 3AC coach B3, said the rush of unauthorised travellers was so overwhelming that many passengers could not even reach their reserved berths. The overcrowding also caused panic and discomfort among women passengers and girl students travelling to New Delhi for studies and competitive examinations, said another aggrieved passenger Jyoti Sinha.“The entire passage area and even spaces near the toilets were occupied by unauthorised commuters. Passengers found it extremely difficult to move inside the coach or use the toilets,” Sumit said, adding the heavy crowd resulted in continuous jostling and chaos inside the coaches during the journey up to major stations in eastern Uttar Pradesh.Passengers also expressed resentment over the alleged inaction of railway authorities. The ticket-checking staff and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) escort party remained mute spectators and failed to take effective steps to prevent unauthorised persons from entering the reserved coaches, said Mithilesh Kumar travelling the coach B4 .Bonafide passengers demanded that the railways must ensure strict checking at Patna Junction so that only passengers possessing valid reservations are allowed to board reserved coaches of long-distance trains like Sampoorna Kranti Express. They urged the railway authorities concerned to strengthen ticket verification drives and deploy adequate RPF personnel at boarding stations to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future.A senior Danapur railway official said the railways would look into the matter and deploy adequate security personnel to check unauthorised travel by the commuters in the reserved coaches.