Travelling by Metro: A Living Nightmare

I usually travel by metro and most of the time it’s really hectic and tiresome. The reason been the excessive crowd that metro pulls during and after office hours. Most of the office goers prefer reaching office and home by metro, as it saves a good amount of time. And it didn’t create any problem, at least some times back. But now the picture has changed with the introduction of 4 more new stations after Tollygaunge (now named Mahanayak Uttam Kumar).

With metro railways expansion policy, new rakes should have been happened, but that is not the case and it is herein that lies the trouble. Orders to build new rakes have already been given to railway coach factories located within India, but they are delaying in supplying additional rakes on time.

Only a few days ago, it came in the newspapers that its hard to say whether by September this year the rakes will be available or not. Such is the situation! And as always, it’s the innocent office goers and common people who are scapegoats. Just like me, hundreds of Kolkatans and people living outside the city in the nearby districts hire the trains everyday to get quite comfortably at office on time.

But now the word 'comfort' is missing from the metro railway dictionary, as everyday loads of people jostle and fight to get accommodated in the compartments. Addition of 4 new stations has led to the increase of metro population, but compared to this, there is lack of additional space and compartments to lodge these people.

Hence, the biting truth – men, women, and youngsters pushing each other and often falling on each others back to get into the metro compartments on a first come first serve basis. And, you will get to see a beautiful picture during the weekday’s office time, at about 9 am to perhaps 10 or 11am in the morning and at the time from about 6 to 8:30 in the evenings.

It’s very likely that at any moment some major accident might happen, since no body is willing to leave space at any cost – just to get back home first, and it leads to unnecessary pushing and stamping one’s feet. During the earlier times, travelling by metro was so comfortable and a hassle-free journey, but now it has become the worst nightmare, I have ever dreamt of. I get nervous whenever time comes to get back home and I have no other option but to hire metro railway. Hope everything goes of well with metro and I happily reach home as always.