Polish Railways and Their Child Passengers

The Story One

Four days ago I arrived to the station to catch the train home, as every week day.  The time came but the train hasn't.  A small crowd is waiting, like me and no one has any idea what's going on.  Finally, 10 minutes or so later, the speakers wake up: "Train to so and so scheduled to leave 5:33pm will be delayed 25 minutes".  While we wait, it becomes obvious that several other trains are late two,  And no explanation whatsoever why.

The crowd becomes a bit agitated and nervous "What's going on?"  No one knows.  I open my cellphone and start browsing the Polish Railway web pages for info.  Sorry, no such luck.  Long term line closures, sure.  Switch to a new line of train cars, sure.  But no info about what is going on right now here at the fourth largest railway station in our beautiful city of Warsaw. 

OK, I think, the phone information line would be more appropriate.  But, not the schedule information, nor ticket prices but info on this one railway station, Warsaw Gdanska.  No, such luck again.  The last resort.  Walk away from the platforms and the crowd of people each puzzled jus like and to the main station hall to the ticket windows.  There is no information window, but the second ticket seller has some answers.  

Finally!  The track west of Warsaw Gdanska is having trouble.  Hey, that explains everything.  Things happen.  Sure.  But the question.  Why hasn't this simple piece of information been announced to the passengers through the speakers?  Why are we treated as children? Aren't we adult passengers, most at least?

The Story Two

This story took place on the train, for a change.  Another day, I was riding the SKM train home (it was not the same day the above story took place; SKM is an acronym for Fast City Train).  I was a bit tired, but generally in a good mood.  However, at the Warsaw Torunska station, the train stopped and wouldn't go.  After 15 minutes or so I got restless.  Something is going on I thought.  Usually, the trains stops there for just a minute or two to take new passengers.  

 After 10 more minutes, I started thinking "What can I do?"  I considered calling the train engineer on the safety phone system that is in every car of the train.  But no, it's not really an emergency, or at least I don't know that it is. So, on my cellphone, I found a number for SKM info line and called it.  They answered promptly, and given the info on my location, they quickly found that yes, there is a problem with a rail junction just north of Warsaw Torunska.  When is the problem expected to be fixed?  To this the lady in the other end of the line had no answer.  

But it's OK, I thought.  Not always you can foresee what has to be done.  So, I only asked "Could you please contact the train crew and request that they announce the information to the passengers by this time waiting for over 30 minutes in the train without any idea, about the reason for a strange behavior of the train?"  "No, sir, I have no means to communicate with the train crew." she replied.  

Whether she was saying the truth or not, didn't matter (I'd prefer that she was wrong; it'd be really scary if the railway had no way to contact the crew).  Anyway, again, the old question came back.  Are we children on the school bus? Or adults? And in that latter case, how come informing these passengers about the state of the situation we are the center of isn't one of the priority steps to take in the somewhat unusual situation like this?