Okay. Let me conclude things for everyone.

In our politically ruined country, even premium trains halt at some stations where even dogs don't roam. But that doesn't mean every place deserves a halt on that basis. Itarsi is too congested, it needs to be freed up. Otherwise, something unfortunate like the RRI fire can paralyze the whole railway system.

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still has enough trains in all direction with respect to it's population. So trains which are already overcrowded before ET can and should avoid ET.

While I agree that intercity trains should halt at places with considerable populations and boardings, I still believe MEMUs should serve this purpose rather than intercity or SF trains. Simply run two pairs of MEMUs in the morning and evening, with a fast schedule, and it'll significantly solve connection issues.

And the elephant in the room, the rich/poor/aam aadmi thing. Rich people don't travel by train often and that's it. And when they do, they write travelogues about it, how horrible the experience was. From Sleepers to ACs, most of the people traveling are middle class, the most neglected section of country.

AC is just a matter of comfort, not a status symbol. When you start to earn more, obviously you'll want to explore more things you haven't, that doesn't make you rich. And even these 'rich' people are toiling hard to earn that money, no one is the spoiled son of Jio owner, dancing with bollywood for a wedding.

I've a car, that'd be considered luxury by all means. Every tom, dick and harry will call me rich. But they won't see the continuous inhumane hours I'm working to pay its EMIs. Calling someone rich or anti-poor just because they're living a better life is easy. No one looks at the hard work that goes in, and no one looks at the uncountable number of taxes government leeching off of them in every way it can. Everyone just wants to be a messiah nowadays.

I just can't thank you enough for such a detailed write-up. 🙏🙏

I agree to all of the 'facts' provided by you, Harshu and RF from Goa.

One thing to be noted...
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in general for all is unless and until a politician doesn't involve we don't easily get trains or halts. We all have seen how IR works these days!