mumbai

Updated: May 28, 2017 20:00 IST

A total of 337 headphones distributed to passengers for the entertainment systems on-board the Mumbai-Goa Tejas Express were stolen in just four round trips after it debuted last Monday, a railway source said.

For its fifth trip on Saturday from CST, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) provided low-cost headphones.

The IRCTC spokesperson did not confirm the number of missing headphones, but said that it had bought 1,000 headphones, each costing Rs30

The Indian Railway had introduced the systems to provide a flight-like travel experience for passengers.

The train has 990 seats across 13 passenger coaches, including an executive coach that has more comfortable seats with neck and leg rests.

The system has preloaded games, movies and songs, besides FM channels. For the first four trips, headphones of a leading brand were handed over to passengers before the start of the journey.

However, after the first trip itself, the train came back with fewer headphones, damaged infotainment screens and waste strewn all over.

The cost of each headphone was around Rs200. The new ones will cost Rs30 each, a source said.

“Many passengers do not return the headphones before alighting and take those with them thinking that its cost was included in their ticket fare,”said an attendant on the train.

He said the on-board staff are now afraid that IRCTC might recover the cost of missing headphones from their salary.

Without catering services, a Tejas Express chair-car and executive-car ticket between Mumbai and Goa costs Rs 1,285 and Rs2,585, respectively.

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RUNNING INTO PROBLEMS The Tejas Express — India’s first semi-high speed full AC train — arrived in the city on Saturday. The luxury train, which boasts of several modern facilities, was flagged off by railway minister Suresh Prabhu from CST for Goa last Monday. The train will run on the Mumbai-Goa route five days of the week— Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday— during the non-monsoon period 5am

Starting time from Mumbai 1:30pm

Arrival time at Goa 8 hours and 30 minutes: Time taken

200kmph: Top speed All other direct trains from Mumbai to Goa, including the Jan Shatabdi Express, take a minimum of 8 hours and 40 minutes. 2:30pm

Starting time from Goa 11:00pm

Arrival time at Mumbai During the monsoon — between June 10 and October 31 — it will be operated thrice in a week— Monday, Wednesday and Saturday

Passengers have to shell out 20% more than of Shatabdi Express

FOR JOURNEY FROM MUMBAI TO KARMALI

Rs 1,190 Fare for AC chair-car seat

Rs 2,590 Fare for executive chair-car seat

A seat in an executive chair car coach on a Karmali-bound trip costs more than an airplane ticket to Goa, which if booked well in advance costs Rs2,000, according to Mumbai railway officials. The train comprises 15 coaches. (HT FILE PHOTO)



HIGHLIGHTS The train is equipped with CCTV cameras, smoke and fire detection system 15 coaches 9-inch infotainment screens for each seat Bio- vacuum toilets GPS-based passenger information display system Tea and coffee vending machines, snack tables at each coach Automatic doors

TROUBLE ON THE FIRST DAY

Although the first trip of Tejas Express from Mumbai to Goa started amid much fanfare, the train came back with fewer headphones, damaged infotainment screens and waste strewn all over.

The train was flagged off from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on Monday and returned from Goa on Tuesday.

12 of the high-quality headphones provided for the infotainment screens were missing, said railway sources. Some screens were found scratched. TEJAS PASSENGERS COMPLAIN OF INEDIBLE FOOD, POOR WIFI

Many passengers who travelled on the Mumbai-Goa Tejas Express on Friday complained about inedible food and poor WiFi

Travellers who chose the non-vegetarian meal were served an omelette with rusk, juice, butter and jam

Vegetarians, who were served upma with rusk, a cupcake, tea, juice, butter and jam, also said the meal did not meet their expectations, given that Tejas Express was touted as a luxury train.

Some also had issues with the quantity of food and the time it was served

WiFi was only available to passengers travelling in the executive chair car, and even they complained about weak signals and connection issues

Others, who were not in the execute coach, said they weren’t even able to connect to the WiFi

The train’s entertainment system also disappointed passengers, who had paid a premium on the promise of luxury services. A railway source said the train had two types of entertainment systems, installed by separate contractors. The first, installed in eight coaches, only offered one Hindi movie. The second offered somewhat more variety — two English movies and one in Hindi

According to an IRCTC source, from Friday’s trip, instead of distributing headphones to the passengers, staffers issued the headphones to the passengers after noting down their seat details and collected it from them.

It considerably brought down the number of missing headphones, the source said.

Meanwhile, many of the 990 infotainment screens were also found damaged.

According to officials, passengers damaged the buttons of three screens by pressing hard on them with an object. There were scratches on many screens.

Many passengers who travelled on the train on Friday complained about inedible food and poor WiFi.

Travellers who chose the non-vegetarian meal were served an omelette with rusk, juice, butter and jam.

Vegetarians, who were served upma with rusk, a cupcake, tea, juice, butter and jam, also said the meal did not meet their expectations.

In addition, WiFi was only available to passengers travelling in the executive chair car, and even they complained about weak signals and connection issues.

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