Railway Retiring Rooms

Retiring Rooms at railway stations are safe and convenient. But other problems persist, making it very difficult for passengers.

There’s no signposting to their location, except perhaps in obscure corners! Then they are often on the first floor of the very old station buildings, with no lifts (or, of course, non-working ones) and it’s quite a steep climb up.

The attendants are generally lackadaisical. When Supriya Kulkarni and I reached Old Delhi station on the 12th, the attendant could not find the key to my room and asked me to stay in hers! In Bhopal, once, the attendant told me that one room was reserved for the “afsars” (railway employees) which was blatantly untrue.

Some attendants give one a mingy, terribly sad looking lock and key, others ask one to use one’s own lock. (I now always carry a forbidding-looking lock with its key now…guess why my strolley is heavy!) In New Delhi Station, some of the rooms are on Platform 1(101 to 210)..the others on Platform 16. No information on where one’s room will be. Imagine walking up and down the stairs on the platforms with one’s luggage, looking for the retiring room!

This process is made even more difficult because of no signage as to where one can find the lift or escalator (and,of course, these may not be working!) I generally have to give myself half an hour to 45 min for this process.

I have got the hang of it, and I like the convenience of not having to find transportation to some place, especially when one is in transit. The rooms are spacious if not extremely clean, there’s a geyser which provides hot water for a refreshing bath, there are air conditioners ( I have never used them as I never travel on bird/ wildlife trips/surveys in summer), there are good little eateries just outside the station, and in the case of Old and New Delhi, the Metro is right there too.

I am a confirmed train traveller, for many reasons, and railway retiring rooms are a big boon for me as I often travel alone.

Delhi, 160223.

Tags: difficulties, observations, thoughts, train journey, travelling