News
The travails of rail passengers
View(s):Tens of thousands of people commute daily using the country’s rail system.
Story and pix by Priyantha Wickramarachchi
Unfortunately, it is not the most comfortable or safest ride for the thousands who use the service.
Trains overflowing with passengers hanging from footboards, during the rush hour is a common sight on our rail tracks.
Most trains, during the morning and evening rush hours, are so crowded, large numbers of passengers have no alternative but to risk life and limb dangling on the footboard of the carriages.
Despite numerous warnings against travelling on footboards of moving trains and despite caution warnings against getting off or into a train before it comes to a complete stop at the station, passengers, intent on getting seats, getting onto the earliest train possible, tend to ignore these warnings; sometimes with tragic results.
Passengers also have a hard time getting into and out of trains due to reluctance of selfish persons to make way for incoming and outgoing passengers.
As a result, one often sees passengers fighting to disembark and/or get into crowded trains at stations.
Trains are also prone to delay between stations and cause long traffic blocks at level crossings.
During rush hours passengers are forced to ignore threats to life and limb to get to their destinations.
A normal scene at rush hour. Passengers cling like bats on a tree
Rainy days are especially difficult for train travellers. Pictured here are travellers rushing to get into and out of trains carrying umbrellas.
Getting into and off a train can sometimes prove to be a life and death struggle
Level crossings are a bane to motorists as gates are closed for long periods prior to the arrival of trains.