The first run of India’s newest luxury train Tejas Express, from Mumbai to Goa, was not as smooth as expected. A total of 337 headphones were stolen and many infotainment screens were found damaged. There was waste all over the train at the end of the trip. This leads us to ask the question: why is there a tendency to harm public property when we protect our own property with the highest level of security?
After 5 trips, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has decided to provide low-costing headphones. The headphones that were stolen, cost INR 200 each; those will now be replaced with headphones costing INR 30 only. The IRCTC spokesperson confirmed that 1000 headphones costing INR 30 have been purchased.
According to sources, some of the infotainment screens were also found scratched. The buttons of three such screens were found damaged by passengers who pressed hard on them using sharp objects. The attendants on the train said that ‘some of the passengers do not return the headphones before leaving thinking that the cost of these headphones is covered in their ticket fare’. The onboard staff is now afraid that the cost of the missing headphones might be recovered by Railway officials from their salary.
From last Friday, the onboard staff issued the headphones to the passengers after noting down their seat details and collected it from them at the end of the trip instead of just distributing it to them, said an IRCTC source. The source also confirmed that this has brought down the number of missing headphones since.
