No more movies, songs and games on Tejas Express
Indians have often made the news for their tendency to damage public goods. In May'17, vandals smashed windows the day before the Tejas Express' maiden journey. In September, lavatory taps, hand showers and carpets were stolen from the Mahamana Express on its first trip. Indian Railways has now decided to cut the problem at its roots: no more infotainment devices on the Tejas.
Tejas costs several times more due to luxurious facilities
The problem wasn't only on the Tejas' maiden journey, but after most trips, railway officials said. The swanky coaches of the high-end train are fitted with LCD screens, headphones and other infotainment devices. But many items are frequently found stolen or damaged. Even power switches are removed, officials said. Notably, Tejas charges up to five times more than other trains due to these facilities.
Railways has adopted different measures to prevent such happenings
The railways has tried other ways to prevent theft and damage. After 337 expensive headphones distributed to passengers went missing in the first four trips of Tejas, the department decided to supply cheap ones costing Rs. 30. Instead of simply handing them out, staff also started noting down seat details of passengers when supplying them headphones, and then collecting them back at the end.
As Railways removes headphones and more, it works on onboard-wifi
Apparently, the problem didn't stop, so now the Railways is removing all infotainment devices from Tejas. "The order was issued in February and all zonal railways will start removing the devices soon," a senior official said. Simultaneously, the Railways is working on providing free wifi on all trains. Passengers can use it on their own smartphones, said Ved Prakash, director of information and publicity.
