There is no point arguing because the man at the gate will just refuse to climb down. For good measure, he will not unlock the gate in case you want to find out who between you can be more stubborn. And this parking lot is run by the Indian Railways.

Each parking slip states Cycle Stand, Northern Railway, Delhi. There is a badly smudged Rs 20 rubber-stamped on each coupon. ``We have not got any other slips for the last six months,'' says a railway official. ``These are the only parking lot tickets we have been issuing.''

But railway spokesperson says Chandralekha Mukherjee says she is unaware of this practice. ``If this is happening, it is very irregular. They are supposed to issue the slips for Rs 20 and if they are not doing it there is something wrong,'' The drive-in parking was inaugurated in June 1997 and given to a contractor. With only 12 trains coming on platform 1A in a day, the contractor said the guarantee money he paid the railways did not make it commercially viable and he washed his hands off the project. The parking lot was then taken over by the Railways.

The parking is open from 4 p.m. to 6 a.m. officially. However, the timings are not strictly adhered to. The ticket checker supposed to man the gate opens them at will as long as he gets the Rs 20. For many people driving in, the concept of this parking lot is not very clear. ``I thought it was a good idea. I did not realise that it was along the farther end of the station and had to lug my luggage through the overbridge,'' says R. Murthy.

Mukherjee explains the working of the lot: ``Actually, it is only for those people who have to catch a train from platform 1A, which runs alongside the parking lot. The concept is that you drive into the station and hop onto the train. It is not for people who are catching trains from other platforms.''

With only trains from Ambala side coming on this platform, the lot is under-utilised. Railway authorities say that once the non-interlocking is done at the station, there will be more trains coming on this platform. In fact, the officials are waiting for the frequency of trains to increase before giving the parking lot to another contractor.