A bug in the buggie

Without prominent signs it is hard for disabled people to use buggies at busy railway stations

Indian Railways (IR) has a 2009 manual on standards and specifications for railway stations. This states: “Handicap accessibility at Indian railway stations is essential, as it facilitates access for elderly and physically challenged transit customers and employees. Indian Railways is committed to providing a barrier-free environment, which provides a high level of customer service especially to the elderly, mobility impaired, and disabled.” When will we see railway stations that ensure such handicap accessibility, not to speak of broader standards and specifications?  In 2019, perhaps 2020. Not everywhere, but in stations like Anand Vihar, Bijwasan, Chandigarh, Habibganj, Shivaji Nagar, Surat, Mohali and Gandhi Nagar. Those will be greenfield-type stations. It is difficult for IR to keep pace with aspirations and expectations.  Passengers expect railway stations to be like airports. It is worse, because passengers expect stations to be like better airports, say, Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi or Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai. These two have facilities far superior to many other airports. In either Delhi or Mumbai, getting a wheelchair isn’t an issue. There are also battery-operated vehicles such as golf carts, buggies, available free of charge to certain categories of passengers. There are several railway stations in Delhi — Anand Vihar (old Delhi), Delhi Sarai Rohilla, Hazrat Nizamuddin and New Delhi. There are others, but these are stations of first origin or final destination, if you leave out EMUs. 

Of these, New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS) will usually be regarded as the busiest and best. It is identified with Shatabdi and Rajdhani. But remember this wasn’t always the case. There was a time when Old Delhi Railway Station (DLI) was more prestigious. NDLS started with a single platform in 1926. In case you don’t know, the station was originally meant to be in Connaught Place, in place of what is now the Central Park.  There have been attempts to modernise NDLS and these continue. However, nothing substantial will ever happen to NDLS. Sure, there is some 87 hectares of land, much of which is amenable to commercial real estate development, even after accounting for IR’s expansion plans. If this was going to happen, it would have happened years ago.  That kind of overhaul gets into urban planning, zoning and traffic management issues and has been stuck with these constraints. Changes at NDLS will be incremental; the same goes for DLI. Therefore, though changes don’t happen overnight, we are probably talking about a situation where most trains between Delhi and the east will connect to Anand Vihar, Delhi and the west to Sarai Rohilla and Delhi and the south to Hazrat Nizamuddin. The real major change will be in Bijwasan and perhaps even Shakur Basti. 

STEER CLEAR Buggies for the New Delhi railway station were donated in 2012. Five years down the line most of them are not in working order. Photo: iSTOCK

NDLS has 16 platforms and there are plans for escalators/elevators, so that every platform can be reached through these. (These changes don’t fall foul of zoning and urban planning norms.)  These were supposed to have been introduced by December 2016. But here is a 2017 statement from Professor Satendra Singh, who did an access audit of NDLS. “Two years ago I had written to the railways that there is no lift or elevator for passengers at New Delhi Railway Station; it only has escalators on the Paharganj side and people with disabilities have to be carried in a dangerous manner on them. But till now no action has been taken… In Delhi, the railway officials talk about installing escalators, but they are not modes of egress for persons with disabilities. They need lifts or elevators. The only elevator at Paharganj side of New Delhi station is not used by them but by railway officials for it does not connect to the overhead bridge. Moreover, you also need lifts at all platforms to help them move.”  Incidentally, NDLS is a Category A1 station. Therefore, it is meant to be completely accessible. 

I wonder if you have seen a passenger use a wheelchair at NDLS. There is no easy way to cross from one platform to another. At the end of the platforms, there is a dusty and rough stretch used for luggage carts. That’s how a coolie will take you across and the passenger will have to pay coolie charges. Since wheelchairs have been donated by NGOs, I don’t see why IR shouldn’t make this a free service. The buggies are worse. They too have to cross that dusty stretch. These buggies have been obtained from companies under corporate social responsibility and IR imposes coolie charges (again, I don’t see why).  Wheelchairs/buggies aren’t meant for all passengers. Had that been the case, I would have understood a service charge. With these having been donated, the coolie charge seems odd. It gets worse. Since these haven’t been purchased by IR, there is no budget head for their maintenance. Therefore, they are in terrible shape. I think buggies for NDLS were donated in 2012 and five years down the line, most are no longer in working order. Think of one of those crowded NDLS platforms milling with passengers. It isn’t the Delhi or Mumbai airport. Even more than a wheelchair, buggies find it impossible to negotiate these platforms. Don’t get the wrong impression. I am all for buggies and I can mention stations (Chennai, Bengaluru, Mysore) where there are prominent signs and the buggy service seems to work well, without the service charge. Despite the visibility of NDLS and the 2010 Commonwealth Games, I think it was a mistake to deploy buggies there.

The writer is a member of the National Institution for Transforming India Aayog. The views are personal