Utrecht in the Netherlands had a moat that they turned into a motorway, and then back into a canal a few years ago

They’re still there

I’m from here and I ride the trains up and down the length of the country fairly often, usually in sleeper class. Every class from Sleeper (SL) and up has linens – sometimes they’re hard to find or just not supplied, but they’re there.

Overcrowding is an issue regardless of whether you have or haven’t gotten a confirmed berth, because folks with unreserved tickets will also come crowding in (because they have to get where they’re going and there simply aren’t enough trains to satisfy demand) and you end up having to share your space with them even if you have a reserved seat. It’s exponentially worse in the sleeper/general (sitting) cars but it happens everywhere on the train. I’ve shared my space with them and I’ve been them. It’s not a pretty sight or a good experience for anyone involved.

I didn’t say luxurious, I said lacking in basic amenities. You’re absolutely right that trains should be for everyone, not just for the rich – but everyone also deserves to travel with a certain basic level of sanitation and comfort that isn’t there on a lot of Indian trains. Just because they’re cheap doesn’t mean they should be shit.

The toilets are filthy and unhygienic, the running water often…isn’t, the bed linen has been found to be dirty and/or infested with vermin on quite a few occasions, and the general state of most trains is just bad. Over and above that, the trains themselves haven’t been upgraded in years AND an increasing number of them just…aren’t in service any more, which means delays, horrible overcrowding, conflict on board the train, and an overall unpleasant passenger experience that further drives people away from taking trains.

This is made a lot worse by the fact that the railway authorities here tend to focus on trying to improve the experience for actual rich people in the upper classes (ie. 1st class/AC class) who aren’t even taking the train anyway – they’re flying. That means ticket prices for even the lower classes are rising, because all that money has to come from somewhere, but there’s no commensurate increase in the standard of service.

Caste originated in Hinduism. The concept has (slightly) bled over into other minority religions in the subcontinent due to cultural assimilation, but it’s most deeply entrenched in Hinduism to this day and it shows up in absolutely horrific ways like this. There are hundreds of incidents like this across the country every day and a vast majority of them go completely unreported – and that’s not even accounting for microaggression that most folks either don’t notice or choose to ignore because “that’s just how things are”.

India trains are the best trains in the world.

Ehhhh…no, not really. There’s a lot of room for improvement there, honestly. They’re absolutely pretty inexpensive, but even then they’re sorely lacking in basic amenities, and successive governments (especially the current one) have steadily been ignoring the railways more and more in favor of roads and airlines – because rich people tend to either drive or fly, and mostly only poor people take trains. I guess the powers that be think that means the railways aren’t worth caring about.

It’s causing a runaway effect where more and more people are being forced to use roads because the trains are either in terrible nick or overcrowded or both, which means there’s even less focus on actually improving the trains, and so on and so forth.

They’re already blaming black people for it because the perpetrator happened to be black

A trans woman who’s attracted to other women would be a trans lesbian, if that’s what was tripping you up.

Lol sure, if you can call flying middle-seat economy on Indigo once every few months “rich people” behavior

Yep, I use it every time I need to get to the airport

…and then he went to a village of 265 people, which still has a bus stop with a bicycle rack and buses that come every 12 minutes.

Higher-caste. Dalit is the lowest caste in Hinduism

I’m in Mumbai. The 37km north-south journey from one end of the city to the other costs 20¢ on the local train. $1.20 if you want to ride the fancy train with AC. East-west is 13km and costs 50¢ on the elevated metro line.

Found one and updated it!

They’re also trying to make a movie about Hind Rajab’s murder while her family is still stuck under the genocidal occupation that killed her

Just about every state and province in North America could claim that title once you’re outside the bigger cities

93% of gynecological research is conducted on men? Research into ovarian cancer? Development into drugs for preeclampsia?

That’s not what that means at all. It means gynecological research + research into other issues that only affect female physiology only accounts of 7% of all medical research. The other 93% is either focused on general or male-specific issues (and conducted mostly on men).

Issues that affect both women and men still often tend to affect both in different ways – but the majority of medical research tends to just take what works for the standard male body and apply that to everyone regardless of sex instead of investigating sex-specific effects and tailoring solutions around that

There’s no “might” about it – the entire system is dyed bright saffron and the ruling regime has mastered the art of keeping it that way to maintain their iron grip on power and cover for their gaping failures in economy and governance

Spoon found in kitchen