(This story originally appeared in on Sep 26, 2017)

The next time the Indian Railway rolls out a new train, it might as well come out with a manual for rail passengers on how to treat government property.

After the Tejas Express , a number of passenger amenities have been reported stolen from the Varanasi-Vadodara Mahamana Express , a highprofile train that was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi through a video link on Friday.

When the train — the third in the Mahamana Express series — returned to Vadodara from Varanasi after wrapping up its first trip on Sunday, officials from the Vadodara yard of Western Railway were shocked to find that three lavatory taps from the general coach, four hand showers and two carpets that were placed between coaches were missing.

This apart, the condition of toilets and seats was especially bad. Scratches also noticed on many seats and the mirrors were in a near-broken state.

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Rail officials, who are clueless about who stole the passenger amenities, believe that it must be the work of some passengers, who have scant regard of public property.

Ravinder Bhakar, chief public relations officer of Western Railway, told Mirror: "We are trying our best to provide modern facilities to every passenger. It is very disappointing if some miscreants steal taps and showers from the lavatory. They didn't even spare the carpets. The coaches were defaced too."

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"The condition of the general coaches was especially bad. This makes us wonder whether the passengers are fit to use such advanced facilities," said a railway official.

The Mahamana Express was introduced by the Railway ministry to change the face of Indian Railway. The name has been given to honour Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya "Mahamana", a freedom fighter and educationist, who established the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi.

The train offers modern facilities, including modular toilet model with enhanced passenger amenities like big mirror, platform wash basin, controlled discharge water tap, odour control system, exhaust fans, LED lights, dustbins, ergonomically designed seats and berths, passenger address system and GPS-based passenger information system.

The first Mahamana Express from Varanasi to New Delhi was flagged off by Narendra Modi in January 2016 from Varanasi junction.

On Friday, Modi did the honours again from Varanasi while railway minister Piyush Goyal was present at Vadodara station from where the train departed. Manoj Sinha, minister of state for communications (independent charge), was present at Surat station.

Earlier this May, several headphones were stolen from the Mumbai-Goa Tejas Superfast Express on its first journey. A senior railway official had also said that a couple of LED screens had scratch marks on them.

The impact of the thefts was such that on the Goa-Mumbai journey, a few passengers complained that they were not provided headphones at all.

