mangalorechennai it is a pestering problem that southern railways in general and indian railways in particular are not able to put a lid on despite best efforts while sighting of cockroaches and of late even rats in trains are accepted as normal what regular business traveller who prefer to travel in ac coaches must contend alongside these pests and rodents is bed bugs which are certain to give travellers young and old alike sleepless nights ensconced in the linen and blankets given to passengers travelling on ac two and threetier coaches bed bugs become active once lights in coaches go off and passengers hit the sack cimicidae or bed bugs are small parasitic insects and refers to species that prefer to feed on human blood almost invisible to human eye these bed bugs once they have fed on human blood bloat to the size slightly smaller than the sac of a mosquito in a similar state enduring these bed bugs on board ac coach a2 of 12686 mangalorechennai express on wednesday last ramesh chandran regional head of a leading cosmetic company was not bemused i prefer to travel by ac coach as i can reach my destination fresh and get on with my work on arrival there he said adding that bedbugs gave him a harrowing time one cannot go to work in a fresh frame of mind having spent the night without sleep he said similar was complaint of hp mulki and his wife snehaprabha who travelled from chennai to delhi in ac coach recently we had to endure cockroaches rats and bedbugs and whole journey was a nightmare he said this is not phenomenon restricted to southern railway alone even jl shenoy a retired engineer who travelled to mumbai recently on konkan railway endured these pests it is stressful to travel in these conditions he said acknowledging that early detection and treatment are critical to successful control of pests vj accamma chief public relations officer of southern railway told toi that they have been getting lots of complaints from passengers i am from kottayam and travel often to chennai and know the problem firsthand she says adding that southern railway would initiate strict action against departmental staff or contractor concerned for shoddy linen maintenance james sebastian pro palghat division said primary maintenance of each train is vested with particular railway station the case of bedbugs in the ac coaches of trains 1268665 would be investigated and action taken according to a survey the most commonly infested places are the mattress 982 in fact bed bugs thrive in areas where there is an adequate supply of available hosts and plenty of cracks and harborages within 15 m of the host