Adding a point to your already well reasoned post, see Kolkata as a metro has lost far more Delhi bound trains than probably any other metro!
Meanwhile the population just keeps on booming. Rather than getting more trains to Delhi, Kolkata' s train lists have just been curtailed, imo it was a ploy to force more and more people towards airlines and it has worked to some extent, but what of the small towns enroute, and the under-priviledged classes that are still forced to travel in GS & SL, as they simply don't have the monetary means to upgrade to AC classes. In that aspect rake standardization has been a hellish experience to a not of people. Thankfully ER has been...
more... less affected by this bug, and most high demand trains are still running with decent number of sleeper coaches.
please wait...Translate to EnglishYo, just wanna add somethin' to your already well thought-out post. Check it - Kolkata, as a big city and all, has lost way more trains goin' to Delhi than any other metro out there. And that's while the population keeps on boomin'! Instead of addin' more trains to Delhi, they just cut back, know what I'm sayin'? I think it's all part of a plan to force people onto airplanes, and it's kinda workin' but what about the small towns and poor folks who gotta travel in crappy coaches 'cause they can't afford no AC? Standardizin' the trains has been a straight-up nightmare for a lot of people. But luckily, Eastern Railways ain't been hit as hard by this mess, and most of the popular trains still got a decent number of sleeper cars.