RailEnquiry

NEW DELHI: Turn right on Ring Road at Sarai Kale Khan and after just 50 metres the road gets lost in a mess of cars, bikes, autos, rickshaws and worried pedestrians. The signage for Nizamuddin railway station is still not visible but if you can bear the jostling and the stench from a public toilet nearby, you will find definite signs: like a group of red-clad porters staring at passengers passing by. Don't look for elevators, there are none. Two staircases lead to the platform. And watch your step - some of the slabs are missing."There are no elevators or escalators," said Rajinder, a po8rter, through a mouthful of tobacco. Wheelchairs? "You can ask for one, but get more people to lift it if you don't want to pay a porter. Although, we charge only Rs 100 to take the wheelchair-bound to the platform."Up the stairs, the inquiry booth on the left is locked in spite of the schedule displayed on a board. But the cops near the baggage scanner may guide you to the platform. Once there, don't be surprised to see men in the women's waiting hall. The cops say "it happens". "These men are travelling with family and they cause no trouble," said a cop beside the baggage scanner. But some of the men are stags - playing cards in a group with no woman nearby.

Opposite the waiting hall are ticket booths, hidden by serpentine queues. "I have to go to Bhopal via Jhansi but the train I am booked on doesn't go to Jhansi. I have been in the queue for 40 minutes but the official behind the window seems unable to understand my problem," said Rajeshwar Dutt, who runs a marriage bureau in Bhopal.

A whistle's blast on platform 2 sends porters scurrying on the packed footbridge. The platform is littered with wrappers. There are no bins. A man in a blue sweater cranes his ne8ck out of the approaching compartment, which is clearly marked as women-only in bold red letters. As the train comes to a halt, more men stream out of the compartment. There is nobody to check them. The station's newly constructed Railway Police Force booth, inaug8urated on January 5, is deserted.

Happily for the staff, the station superintendent has a sunny temperament. Things are going smoothly, he says. "Only the work on platform 8 is left, everything else is fine."

Across the Yamuna, in Anand Vihar, is a railway station where you might buy that claim. A new glass building spread across acres, with the Metro forming its backdrop, houses the Anand Vihar Railway station. A part of the boundary wall separating the railway station from the Anand Vihar Metro station has been knocked off, and the more adventurous passengers cross over under the barbed wire.

Inside the station, loudspeakers don't blare train schedules but there are two long queues of people with luggage at the entrance. "There are only two baggage scanners. But there is hardly any rush as there are three platforms and, on average, six trains depart from the station," says S K Chopra, station superintendent.

The few porters who are around are busy loading carts with luggage. There are funct8i8o8ning escalators at the entr8a8n8ce, the inquiry booth on the left is manned and people wait in a queue. A glass wall is the only division between the general waiting hall and the upper wa8iting hall. But the VIP lounge and travel bureau, the cleaning staff claims, has been locked ever since the station opened.

Anand Vihar station is yet to get its finishing touches and work is on. "The station isn't bustling like other stations, and that's a relief. But getting an auto or a taxi at reasonable rates is difficult," said Rukmani Jha, who had come to drop her brother at the station.