Have you ever indulged in a fight on the train with someone who wanted to use middle or upper berths to sleep too early or wake up later?

We see a lot of arguments between passengers allotted the lower and middle berths in reserved train coaches and these are common. The Indian Railways is now trying to put an end to those tiresome fights that break out due to oversleeping passengers in the berths. A bid to end this issue, the Railways has decided to reduce the official sleeping hours in its trains by an hour.

The sleeping time that was between 9 PM to 6 AM earlier has been cut short to 8 hours between 10 PM to 6 AM. The step has been taken to enforce the peace in the regular railway journey of the public by decreasing the chances of fights caused due to sleeping time.

A circular dated August 31 said, “Sleeping accommodation between 2200 hours and 0600 hours and sitting accommodation for the rest of the period is provided for the passengers in the reserved coaches having sleeping accommodation. Passengers are, however, requested to cooperate with the sick, persons with disability, and pregnant ladies in case they want to sleep beyond permissible limits.”

The circular also clarified that a person booked on side upper berth will not have any claim to the seat on the lower berth between 10 pm hours and 6 am. “On the lower berths on which passengers have been booked under Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC), during the daytime, sitting accommodation is also provided for those booked on the upper berth,” the circular said.

The new provision replaces paragraph 652 in the Indian Railways Commercial Manual, Volume I, which provides for sleeping accommodation between 9 pm and 6 am. “We had received feedback from officials regarding issues between passengers over sleeping arrangements. We already have a rule in place. However, we wanted to clarify it and ensure it is followed,” said ministry spokesperson Anil Saxena.

This provision is applicable to all reserved coaches with sleeping accommodation, he said.

Talking about the decision, a railway official said that the sleeping time was reduced by an hour because there were times when passengers went to sleep as soon as they boarded the train (day or night) leaving the co-travelers on the upper and middle berths high and dry. On the other side, sometimes middle berth passengers refuse to get up which causes a lot of problems to lower berth passengers.

Ministry officials said the new directive will help Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) to resolve such disputes on board by preventing anyone from taking catnaps beyond the permissible time. However, Twitterati seems they always remain in the mood for fun. Soon, they started cracking jokes, trolls on this update too.

Twitter Reactions:

No matter the Department of Railway keeps sleeping all the time but Passengers should not sleep….!
New India forming

— imran (@SirImranHaq) September 17, 2017

@SwetaSinghAT Now passengers of Indian Railway Sleeper Class can sleep 10pm-6am1h cut in sleeping time. More money with less comfort. NaMo

— IndianCulture (@jamalsanmustafa) September 17, 2017

Ghar mein raho toh PAPA subha 6 baje utha dete hai..
Train mein raho toh MODI JI subha 6 baje utha de rahe hai..

Hum soye toh soye kaha? pic.twitter.com/c7pin4dcmT

— Bakchod KUTTA (@FoodiePandit) September 17, 2017

If train is late & start at 11 pm will railway allow passengers to sleep till 7 am?

— Sibaji Dasgupta (@dasgupta28) September 17, 2017

#Indian #Railway reduces sleeping hours
Looking at the rate of #derailment actually people shouldn’t be allowed to sleep even for a second 😀

— Hiren Antani (@HirenAntani) September 17, 2017

What do you say about this decision by Indian Railways? Do you agree with it? Share your views with us in the comments section below.

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