How many blue Indian railway trains are available?

Is it necessary to have an isolated 'Ladies Only' compartment in Indian railway trains?

• ‘Co-passengers must help those in distress,' The increasing incidents of women being attacked in trains can be checked if seats are reserved for them in each coach, just like in buses, participants at a discussion on ‘The safety of women commuters in trains' said. The demand comes in the wake of commuters in ladies-only coaches becoming highly vulnerable to attacks by miscreants. http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/article2927480.ece

• Answer:

  I say this with utmost regret, but yes. covered the assault situation very well in his answer so I wish to dwell on the more everyday occurrences. My answer relates the experiences I have faced travelling alone, with female companions and 1 male companion. Travelling with your entire family or a large group of friends of both genders is very safe. The unpleasantness and harassment that women have to suffer when travelling on the train begins way before the journey itself. The first thing to bear in mind is that the train and the station is packed to capacity and there is simply no escape if someone wants to misbehave and most perverts see this as an excellent opportunity. 1. Getting to the platform - There is usually at least one pervert who will try to grope you on the stairs, especially if you are caught facing an oncoming crowd. Most will at least leer unwaveringly. 2. On the platform - Perverts hanging out from the doors of incoming trains will reach out their hands and try to touch any woman who is within the radius on the platform, taking advantage of the motion of the train. (They're gone just as she can register the shock/horror/disgust and before she can respond.) Lewd looks abound, of course. 3. On the train itself - [ EDIT : One more point that occurred to me is that trains only halt for about a minute or two at the stations. This is war time! The intense shoving and throwing your weight on the surging mass facing you that is required to board/alight from a train means that bigger, powerfully built people have a decided advantage even in the current scenario. Take away the Ladies compartment and pregnant or elderly women or even for that matter petite ones stand little chance of getting on to the train in the first place! ] a. In a Ladies compartment -  If you happen to be in one of those compartments which are partitioned with Ladies and General sections on either side, you're in for a nasty time. Continuous leers occasionally accompanied by lewd remarks or sexually overt songs blaring on cellphones make a long ride seem even longer. This compartment is also nicknamed the "TV" or "View wala"  compartment (compartment with a view). Need I say more? b. In a General compartment - I wouldn't get into one unless I was accompanied by a guy in the first place. First action (after clambering onto the train with minimum physical contact with co-passengers) - scan to see if there's another woman in the compartment. You feel a little (irrationally ?) relieved if there is one. Travelling in the General compartment is actually is not bad when it's off hours or you're travelling in the direction opposite to the crowd. In a crowd, though, there is much pushing and shoving leading to some unavoidable (?) and decidedly unpleasant contact. Most people who otherwise would have groped don't dare to because they can see you're with somebody. Lewd looks are so obviously restrained/furtive that the restraint does not help with your disgust and I-can't-wait-to-get-off feeling. To be fair to the good guys, there are many people who go out of their way to avoid brushing past you. They are the ones who really want to make their (lack of) intentions clear. Unfortunately, either way, you are, at all times, extremely aware that you're a girl in the General compartment. You try to pay more attention to what your travel companion is saying, end up 'focusing on ignoring' the remaining guys around and exit the train with a sigh of relief. It is also worth noting that these compartments are sometimes the only reason that women from orthodox patriarchal backgrounds are allowed to travel by themselves. If this protection were removed, there would be many girls/women whose families would not allow them to travel to schools or colleges or workplaces. This is not a good situation. But such as it is, Ladies compartments allow women to travel in some physical as well as mental comfort. For the present, and it pains me to say this, they are necessary.