We, from the still-developing world, sometimes find the developed world's concern for the handicapped a bit overdone, and not without justification. After years of experience of train travel one starts suspecting that all public utilities are deliberately designed for difficult access, your handicapped status notwithstanding. If you have ever traveled by train with some heavy luggage and a co-passenger who is past his peak of fitness, you will have many memories that will bear out my statement.
I recently returned from a visit to my son who lives in USA. I live in Lucknow. Lucknow boasts of an International Airport. However its international status is restricted to operating Haj flights. For traveling to any other international destination your nearest boarding point is New Delhi airport. This involves using coolie services at Lucknow and New Delhi station and then a taxi or Delhi Airport Metro for reaching the airport. You may be wondering why don't I travel by air on the domestic segment too. The fact is that air travel to Delhi becomes quite expensive when you are travelling with 23X2 Kg of baggage, because all baggage in excess of 15 Kg is charged at Rs.250/= per Kg! While some airlines slightly relax this rule for those coming in from an international segment, none of the airlines offering flights from Delhi to Lucknow do that.
Delhi Airport Metro is very close to New Delhi railway station. However the short distance involves crossing a road and walking on a sidewalk or along the road for some distance. Even a Sreedharan failed to connect the two through a subway! I wonder if it was the futility of doing it that deterred him. For ND railway station doesn't have subways connecting platforms. You must ascend and descend from the FOB for going to another platform. It being so, you might as well walk from the Metro station to get some practice! And this lack of subway at the railway station in the country's capital is a little surprising considering that many smaller stations do have the subway.
Airport Metro, of course, has escalators and elevators for easy access to all. Even better, they have an organized coolie (porterage) service with a prescribed fee that is very reasonable. It is just Rs.50/= for one cart that can take three reasonably sized bags. And you can take the same cart inside the airport, and vice versa. The metro is so well connected with the airport that pushing the cart between airport and metro station is no hassle at all.
This time around on my return journey I reached New Delhi Terminal 3 in midnight and had to catch the Shatabdi for Lucknow that leaves from New Delhi railway station at 06:10. I remembered having read on Metro's website that the first metro leaves the airport station at 04:45. However when I approached the metro ticket vending machine inside the airport, I found a poster on it saying that the first metro departs from the airport station at 05:11! I went to Metro website but the timings page was just not to be found! The 5 digit helpline number mentioned on the website was missing according to the message received on dialing the number. Inquiries with workers in the airport got very divergent responses. As 05:11 will be rather late for catching the Shatabdi, I decided to take a taxi. I was told by the person at the prepaid taxi counter that the fare for the under 30 kilometer distance was 1000/=. Upon further inquiry he clarified that it had nothing to do with the time of the night.
So I took the taxi to New Delhi railway station. The first coolie demanded Rs.1,200/= for four bags each weighing 23 Kg! After prolonged bargaining and threats to discontinue negotiations, it was fixed at 600. However the coolie said that for this amount he would only take the bags to the platform and not load them in the compartment. After more negotiations, he agreed to do so after expressing his confidence that I would pay him "something" extra. For comparison sake, the prescribed rate is Rs.50/= per bag. It will help my readers to know that on my outward journey I had to take the same bags from New Delhi railway station to the Airport Metro station and the coolie had finally settled for Rs.500/=.
This state of affairs makes me wonder about what happens when a disabled person has to board a train that is not leaving from the 1st or the last platform.
Coolies are subscribing to "very low volumes with exorbitant revenue" model instead of "high volumes with reasonable price" implemented by the Airport Metro. This may partly be because of the back breaking labor. This, in turn, is due to total disregard by the railways for ease of accessibility as discussed above. If there were subways and trolleys and porterage was as reasonable as at the Metro stations, they could turn to the "reasonable price and high volumes" model. This will make the passengers happy and also enhance their total earning. Railways could also start accepting checked-in bags at a counter in the foyer and return the same at the destination as is done by the airlines. To start with this could be implemented only at the bigger stations.
However doing all this requires meticulous planning, execution, and highly standardized operations: Things that aren't really our forte. All these things are only practiced in outlandish places like star hotels and airports, not the real life places frequented by people like us. After all we have had just one Sreedharan in the recent past! And dear disabled fellow countrymen, all I can say to you is to be patient (pun intended!)
I recently returned from a visit to my son who lives in USA. I live in Lucknow. Lucknow boasts of an International Airport. However its international status is restricted to operating Haj flights. For traveling to any other international destination your nearest boarding point is New Delhi airport. This involves using coolie services at Lucknow and New Delhi station and then a taxi or Delhi Airport Metro for reaching the airport. You may be wondering why don't I travel by air on the domestic segment too. The fact is that air travel to Delhi becomes quite expensive when you are travelling with 23X2 Kg of baggage, because all baggage in excess of 15 Kg is charged at Rs.250/= per Kg! While some airlines slightly relax this rule for those coming in from an international segment, none of the airlines offering flights from Delhi to Lucknow do that.
Delhi Airport Metro is very close to New Delhi railway station. However the short distance involves crossing a road and walking on a sidewalk or along the road for some distance. Even a Sreedharan failed to connect the two through a subway! I wonder if it was the futility of doing it that deterred him. For ND railway station doesn't have subways connecting platforms. You must ascend and descend from the FOB for going to another platform. It being so, you might as well walk from the Metro station to get some practice! And this lack of subway at the railway station in the country's capital is a little surprising considering that many smaller stations do have the subway.
Airport Metro, of course, has escalators and elevators for easy access to all. Even better, they have an organized coolie (porterage) service with a prescribed fee that is very reasonable. It is just Rs.50/= for one cart that can take three reasonably sized bags. And you can take the same cart inside the airport, and vice versa. The metro is so well connected with the airport that pushing the cart between airport and metro station is no hassle at all.
This time around on my return journey I reached New Delhi Terminal 3 in midnight and had to catch the Shatabdi for Lucknow that leaves from New Delhi railway station at 06:10. I remembered having read on Metro's website that the first metro leaves the airport station at 04:45. However when I approached the metro ticket vending machine inside the airport, I found a poster on it saying that the first metro departs from the airport station at 05:11! I went to Metro website but the timings page was just not to be found! The 5 digit helpline number mentioned on the website was missing according to the message received on dialing the number. Inquiries with workers in the airport got very divergent responses. As 05:11 will be rather late for catching the Shatabdi, I decided to take a taxi. I was told by the person at the prepaid taxi counter that the fare for the under 30 kilometer distance was 1000/=. Upon further inquiry he clarified that it had nothing to do with the time of the night.
So I took the taxi to New Delhi railway station. The first coolie demanded Rs.1,200/= for four bags each weighing 23 Kg! After prolonged bargaining and threats to discontinue negotiations, it was fixed at 600. However the coolie said that for this amount he would only take the bags to the platform and not load them in the compartment. After more negotiations, he agreed to do so after expressing his confidence that I would pay him "something" extra. For comparison sake, the prescribed rate is Rs.50/= per bag. It will help my readers to know that on my outward journey I had to take the same bags from New Delhi railway station to the Airport Metro station and the coolie had finally settled for Rs.500/=.
This state of affairs makes me wonder about what happens when a disabled person has to board a train that is not leaving from the 1st or the last platform.
Coolies are subscribing to "very low volumes with exorbitant revenue" model instead of "high volumes with reasonable price" implemented by the Airport Metro. This may partly be because of the back breaking labor. This, in turn, is due to total disregard by the railways for ease of accessibility as discussed above. If there were subways and trolleys and porterage was as reasonable as at the Metro stations, they could turn to the "reasonable price and high volumes" model. This will make the passengers happy and also enhance their total earning. Railways could also start accepting checked-in bags at a counter in the foyer and return the same at the destination as is done by the airlines. To start with this could be implemented only at the bigger stations.
However doing all this requires meticulous planning, execution, and highly standardized operations: Things that aren't really our forte. All these things are only practiced in outlandish places like star hotels and airports, not the real life places frequented by people like us. After all we have had just one Sreedharan in the recent past! And dear disabled fellow countrymen, all I can say to you is to be patient (pun intended!)
Very aptly described,the horrific situation,and ground realities, prevailing at public places in India.
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