My mother was waiting at Thane Station at platform # 5 with my 7 year old nephew today from 4:45 PM to catch the Gareebrath train to Kerala which was expected to arrive at 5:20 PM. She was told that this train arrives at platform number 5. But just a minute before the train arrived, they announced that the train would come at platform #7. She lost a bag while running to catch the train.

My question here is atleast for long distance trains, why cant the railways announce the train details and platform details atleast 15 minutes earlier to the arrival? There are so many elders and small children with lots of baggage who may be boarding such trains. To top it, the train halts at a station only for 2 minutes. How do you expect people to run from one platform to another at the last moment?

The same incident happened yesterday at Kalyan Station while we were waiting for the Jayanti train. The indicators are put at the last moment when the train has already arrived. The announcements happen at the same time when the train had already reached the station.