Passengers Sleep In Front Of Toilets On Overcrowded Chhattisgarh Express, Railways Reacts

Several videos depicting the challenges faced by passengers travelling on Indian Railways have surfaced online. The issue of overcrowding on Indian Railways seems unabated, as a video recently shed light on the situation aboard the Chhattisgarh Express. The clip, garnering over 1 lakh views, shows every inch of the train occupied, with passengers struggling to find space. People are seen sleeping on floors, near the gates and even outside the toilet. Following its circulation on social media platform X, users criticised authorities and expressed frustration over the current state of Indian railways.

The video begins with several men asleep near the attendant’s seat. As it continues, more people are seen sleeping outside the open toilet gate, under the basin and some in the passageways. The user who shared the video captioned it, “This is from Chhattisgarh Express (train number 18237). Seats, floors, gates, aisles, bathrooms—wherever there’s space, people are sitting and sleeping. Railway Minister, please pay attention to trains for the poor too, increase the number of coaches.”

Shortly after the video was shared online, it garnered the attention of Rail Seva’s official handle, prompting them to tag the Divisional Railway Manager, Agra, and the Divisional Railway Manager, Raipur.

In response to the post, one user criticised the authorities, stating that they cannot manage Indian Railways properly yet are pushing for expensive bullet trains.

Another highlighted the need for a Population Control Bill and claimed that overcrowding has been a common issue for years, especially on trains between West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

An individual questioned why sleeper coaches are being reduced, leading ordinary people to travel in such cramped conditions.

“This is nothing new, the condition of the train was the same 25 years ago too,” a user said.

Earlier this week, another incident went viral, depicting a crowd of ticketless passengers occupying the Lucknow-Haridwar Vande Bharat Express. The video showcased the train filled with passengers without tickets, standing in the passages, thereby denying space to those who had paid for expensive tickets.