“NEVER MIND the rats,” the ticket collector said, reclining on his seat as passengers set- tled in for the night. “We have no choice but to get accus- tomed to having them as our fellow passengers.” As the Mumbai-bound Golden Temple Mail left New Delhi and made quick progress through Rajasthan’s dry ter- rain, a foul stench from the bath- rooms wafted through the train car, mingling with the smell of leftover food on dinner trays piled up near the bathrooms. At a time when the Indian Railways’ profits have peaked, an HT reporter made a 38-hour, 2,800-km train journey on one of the country’s busiest routes to investigate if services had improved on the world’s second largest train network. Here is what we found: Services have worsened. That is to be expected when the company that got the con- tract to clean bed rolls on one of the trains is, incredibly a , detective agency . Officials shrugged off com- plaints about poor service. “It is not proper to jump to conclusions on the basis of a short travel,” IRCTC Man- aging Director Rakesh Kumar Tandon told HT. But a top official said the Railways Board was “deeply concerned” about deteriorat- ing standards of passenger amenities and was taking “corrective steps”. srinand.jha@hindustantimes.com FOR THE RECORD The Indian Railways generated surplus of about Rs 70, 000 crore in first four years of Lalu Prasad’s regime Achieved an operational ratio of 76 per cent — the best in the world The Railways’ return on net-worth (equity) at 20.8% is higher than 19.6% in Reliance Industries — the best in the private sector In terms of business growth, five years of Lalu Prasad are expected to match the performance of Railways ministers during the past three decades Rail bonding: At a time when it’s become fashion- able to bash working women, passengers rallied around a railways hostess AT A time when Indian Railways' profits have peaked, a HT reporter made a 38-hour, 2,800-km journey on one of the country's busiest routes to investigate whether services had improved. Here is what we found: it's even worse than before. "We will have to continue travelling in this filth," said 39-year-old Vikas Thakur, an agricultural scientist, as the train halted at Kota. The Indian Railways Cate- ring and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) guidelines for private contractors stipulate that trains will be cleaned at major stations. None came. Prior to 2006 - after which the Railways outsourced the cleaning of trains, tracks and stations, as well as catering and bedrolls assignments - all passenger train coaches were cleaned and fumigated at yards between journeys. "Railways staff is no longer involved and private contrac- tors sometimes get the trains cleaned, sometimes not," an official said on conditions of anonymity as he is not autho- rised to speak to the media. In the premier Trivandrum Rajdhani, on which we retur- ned, the Delhi-based Chase Detective and Security Agency has the bedrolls contract. Its workers alleged that the company had not paid them salaries for eight months. "We have to make pocket money by selling liquor and cigarettes to passengers," said Sonu Yadav, one of the workers. Owner T.K. Sarasan retort- ed: "My workers have sold off bedrolls and put me under huge debt. I cannot lodge a police complaint against them because if I do, the Railways will impose heavy penalty for non-fulfilment of the contract." As the train trundled into Madhya Pradesh, waiters brought in food wrapped in foil - greasy and tasteless. Catering is another black hole. Only two per cent of pas- senger trains - 260 out of 8,984 - have pantry cars. Meals are moderately priced between Rs 32-35, but poor in taste and made without hygiene. Food at station outlets is worse, and costlier - up to Rs 80 per meal. So we decided to complain. Approximately 60 calls to the railway's catering-related toll free number, launched by the Railways on December 15, went unanswered. The IRCTC has not had pas- senger satisfaction surveys for almost two years. If it had, here is what it would find. "Bring home cooked meals. Or prepare for stomach ail- ments, while being fleeced out of your pockets as well," said passenger Anand Kumar Sharma. srinandjha@hindustantimes.com