Travelling by train
Along with two other friends of mine, I decided to travel to Sylhet for some specific business purpose and considering the hassles in road journey, I bought the Upaban Express first class ticket for 3 May, 2010. The train was scheduled to depart at 9:45pm. When we arrived at the station we saw a first class waiting room without any air-conditioning. There was a ceiling fan at one side of the room. The furniture were dirty, poorly maintained and occupied by the passengers or some other people who were not passengers of the first class. The washroom was equally dirty. For reasons not known, there was none to take care or check the tickets of the passengers or even clean the room. Having the entitlement yet we had to stroll out all the time instead.
We reached the first class compartment to confront more problems.
We saw the doorway and the floor of the first class were awfully nasty. As there was no ladder fixed at any point of the couch, the sleeping berths were found difficult to climb even by any young men, let alone the people of our age. The seat, pillow covers and quilt covers were so dirty that some people may refuse to use those on the ground of cleanliness. None perhaps knows when those were cleaned.
The toilets were being frequently used by the passengers some of whom perhaps don't even know how to maintain cleanliness.
No toilet paper or water pot was seen there. Water was dripping down from the overhead tanks making the floor soaked with dirty water.
There is no buffet system, no supply of drinking water, no prayer room. These are to name but a few. We found none around to listen to our complaints even.
Actually I don't even know whom to blame for the poor service of the railway. But I can say that if anybody travels with the railway they would never be willing to ride back again. On the other hand the services of the bus companies are found to be luxurious, cheap, comfortable and competitive.
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