Indian Railways Passengers ALERT! You Can't Sleep Before...... Other Passengers Can Force Wake You Up After....

Those travelling in Sleeper and 3rd AC often face a peculiar situation due to the middle berth. While the middle berth passengers face sitting discomfort, those having the lower berths face sitting issues when the middle berth is converted to bed or lifted for sleeping. 

While most of the time, passengers tend to adjust thinking that the journey will culminate the next day or so, sometimes it becomes difficult. The journey turns into a nightmare due to unruly co-passengers. Sometimes, those having the middle berth turn stubborn and argue to raise the middle berth during the day citing various reasons. Sometimes, even the lower berth passenger displays unruly behaviour as they don't allow middle or upper berth holders to sit on the lower berth. 

As per the Indian Railways time to time updated rules, those having a middle berth and upper berth have the right to sit on the lower berth during specific hours of the day. While the lower berth passenger cannot deny other co-passengers of the same row from sitting, those having upper and middle berths cannot coerce the lower berth passenger for sitting beyond the permissible hours. 

As per the Indian Railways updated new rules, sleeping accommodation is allowed on berths between 10PM to 6AM and sitting accommodation is provided to the passengers between 6AM to 10PM in the reserved coaches having sleeping accommodation. 

As per the Indian Railways, the side lower berths on which passengers have been booked even under Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC), during the daytime, sitting accommodation is also provided for those booked on the upper berth. That means, both the RAC passengers and the upper berth passenger can sit on the side lower berth from 6AM to 10PM. A person booked on the side upper berth will not have any claim of seat on the lower berth between 10PM and 6AM.

However, if any of the passengers are refusing to cooperate with fellow passengers, then those having an issue can approach the TTE, who will get the issue resolved. Indian Railways also requests its passengers to cooperate with sick persons with disability and pregnant ladies in case they want to sleep beyond permissible time limits.