Indian Railways coaches for women smaller, court asks why, rolls out solution

 During the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) on Thursday, the Bombay High Court asked the Indian Railways why ladies’ first-class coaches have smaller compartments with less seats than the normal first-class general bogey. The court also suggested to  increase the size of first-class compartment for women on a pilot basis to see if earnings rise.

“The Railways should on a pilot basis increase the size of first-class compartment for women. We are confident their revenues will increase. We feel it is only because of lack of space that women avoid travelling in first class and travel by general,” a division bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Girish Kulkarni said while advising the Indian Railways on the matter.

 As opposed to 72 seats in a general compartment, the first class of ladies compartment has only 14 seats.

To take the feedback, the  bench conducted a poll of some women advocates during the hearing in the open court. The result of the poll was in favor of the court as they supported the court’s view .

“Since the seats are fewer, we are forced to take the general class”, said the woman advocate.

However, the Indian Railways seems to have the opposite view. Appearing for the Railways, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh said, “We have earmarked special trains for women and observed that after peak hours, women’s compartments are empty.”

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“Monitor your revenue for a period and see if it increases, or else you can go back to the old system.” the bench said replying to this.

The PIL was filed after stampede at Elphinstone bridge, last year, which ended up in the deaths of many people.