Steward services elusive on trains of Eastern Zone

It was a Thursday afternoon. The Sonar Bangla train, coming from Dhaka, arrived at platform-5 of the Chattogram railway station. A passenger accompanied by his wife and two young children was seen struggling to take luggage down from an air-conditioned sleeper coach. No steward came forward to help them in the unpleasant situation.

Moreover, just half an hour ago, some stewards were seen picking up passengers without tickets into the Dhaka-bound Mahanagar Express train in exchange for bribes. Such pictures are very common for all trains of the Eastern Railway Zone.

These happenings are completely opposite to the responsibilities of the stewards, who were appointed to provide onboard services to passengers and curve travelling without tickets. The Bangladesh Railway has been paying some Tk37.67 lakh every month to contractors who operate steward services for 9 trains in the zone.

Among others, the duties of stewards include assisting passengers in boarding, cleaning seats, toilets and other utensils in train coaches, ensuring first aid services, spraying air fresheners, ensuring fire-fighting equipment and supplying newspapers. The staffers, however, often ignore the duties.

Talking to The Business Standard, several stewards said they have the capabilities to manage train authorities to allow passengers without tickets. "We take care of the passengers so that they do not face any problem," a steward, wishing to remain unnamed, said.

This correspondent also visited the toilets of several trains, including Mahanagar Express, to observe how serious the stewards are in performing their other duties. Most toilets were found dirty. Even hand-washing soaps were unavailable in all the toilets.

"Sonar Bangla is considered the best train in the country, but I find it completely unhygienic. The condition of the bathrooms is especially bad.  All the coaches are dirty as well. Most of the time, stewards are not available," Rakibul Hasan, a bank official who often travels by the train Sonar Bangla, told The Business Standard.

Rokhsana Begum, another passenger of that train, said, "Many passengers, particularly women, feel sick during the journey. As there is no first aid service in the train, the passengers are in danger."

When contacted, the contractor of steward service for the Sonar Bangla Express, Md Mamun Hosan also admitted that passengers are not getting services properly on the train. "It is not always possible to provide 100% services, especially at the busy moments of departure. We fired 5 stewards last year due to their irregularities."

As per the contract terms, the contractors are supposed to appoint one steward per coach, two sweepers and two supervisors per train.

When asked about the irregularities in steward services, Railway Eastern Zone Chief Commercial Manager Nazmul Islam told The Business Standard that they sometimes conduct drives to ensure passenger services. "However, it is not possible to monitor every coach every day," he added.

Passengers unfamiliar with newspaper service

One of the key responsibilities of the stewards is to supply newspapers to each coach of trains for passengers to read. However, almost all passengers are unfamiliar with the facility, meaning that they do not get the service at all.

Anwar Hossain, a Chattogram-based businessman who travels to Dhaka several times a month for business purposes, said "I have never seen that the train authorities supply newspapers. It is much unknown to me."

Talking to The Business Standard, several other passengers also said the same.