New Delhi : Several purported videos went viral within a short span of time alleging overcrowding, mismanagement and food issues in the trains, the Railway Ministry responded on some videos and urged the public not to malign the image of railways by sharing misleading videos. The Railways' plea came amid a spate of videos appearing on social media even as Congress MP Rahul Gandhi also commented how 'train journey' became a punishment.
A passenger, who posted a video on X purportedly showing overcrowding inside the AC 2 tier, said, "Tell the Railway Minister that if he has got free time, then he should pay attention to the railways. This is not general, This is not sleeper, This is not 3 AC, This is 2 AC PNR-8417167522. This is the video of 15017 Lokmanya Tilak Gorakhpur Express on 20 April 2024. The public will answer all this in the elections."
Another user posted a 'video' on X and said, "14609 Hemkunt Express PNR 2537487586, 2537487586, this is the condition of Sleeper coach “S1”, Rail Ministry India, in this too, send some influencer and get a video made."
Responding to queries about these videos' authenticity and time line, Shivaji Maruti Sutar, Director (P&I), Railway Board, told ETV Bharat, "At present Railways has its focus to clear extra rush of passengers and run more and more summer special trains on various routes for traveler's benefits."
Sutar further said, "It is hard to find out each and every person or such types of clippings posted on social media. We only want to say that people should understand our hard work and honest efforts which railway staff put to ensure smooth journey of the passengers."
In one more purported video clip on social media X of Anurag, the video shows several travellers are complaining about quality of food in train and demanding action against vendor.
Director (P&I), Railway Board said, "If we receive any video in which passenger mentioned train name and PNR number, railway staff immediately try to resolve the issue."
Apart from these, two other videos are circulating on social media platform in which a lady was allegedly sitting on co-passenger's seat and another clip shows some people are allegedly fighting each other at an unidentified railway platform.
Besides passengers, Congress on Sunday took a dig at ruling BJP party over alleged crowding trains.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi, Member of Parliament and Congress leader, wrote on X and claimed, "In Narendra Modi's rule, 'train journey' has become a punishment. Passengers of every class are being harassed in the Modi government which is promoting only 'elite trains' by reducing general coaches from common man's trains. People are not able to sit peacefully on their seats even with confirmed tickets, common man is forced to travel hiding on the ground and in toilets. The Modi government wants to weaken the railways through its policies and prove it 'incompetent', so that it can get an excuse to sell it to its friends."
Reacting to the allegations, Railway Ministry posted on X, "The present video of the coach. No overcrowding. Please don't malign the image of Indian Railways by sharing misleading videos." It also posted a fresh video of the coach which shows proper arrangements and no crowd.
"It is hereby informed that videos shared in this post are old. Watch the present condition of train mentioned. IR is running record number of additional trains in this season to facilitate passengers," Railway wrote in its another post on X.
