downgrading of railway seats: Railways downgrades AC 3-tier bunks to sleeper class without intimations. Passengers smoke | So Good News

Over 50 passengers of the Mangaluru Express faced problems on Sunday after the Railways downgraded their confirmed AC 3-tier ticket to non-AC sleeper class without any prior information. According to a ToI report, the South Western Railway (SWR) downgraded the class as a third-ac coach got detached from the train due to technical issues.

SWR said a 3AC coach of the train was detached due to technical problems and the passengers were accommodated in sleeper class.

Rajeen Jha, a passenger of Mangaluru Central Express, shared his bad experience on twitter: “Sir have you started downgrading your passengers. I have booked my tickets in 3AC and am downgrading to sleeper class. And the best part is when we called IRCTC customer care – they said we have no clue (sic).”

He also tagged his post to Union Minister Piyush Goyal and several railway officials in the tweet.

In response to his complaint, Bengaluru Divisional Railway Manager Shyam Singh replied, “Due to technical issues, a 3AC coach has been detached and passenger has been re-seated in sleeper class. Full refund is allowed if the passenger does not intend to travel. If you intend to travel , please obtain a lower class travel certificate from TTE to claim fare difference (sic).”

However, troubled passengers were not convinced with the answer. “We order AC for comfort. Imagine if pensioners are there and passengers only find out about the change after mapping. It is unfair especially when the train starts from that station and the railway authorities could have easily replaced the bus,” said a passenger.