Date:20/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/20/stories/2008082050670300.htm

Kerala

Additional ticket counters at Nilambur, Angadipuram

Staff Reporter

To cater to increasing number of passengers

Passengers urged to avoid last-minute rush
Ticket-checking to be intensified

NILAMBUR: The Nilambur Road and Angadipuram railway stations will soon have an additional ticket counter each to cater to the increasing passenger traffic.

The 65-km rail route linking Shoranur and Nilambur will have several infrastructural improvements in the coming months.

Divisional Railway Manager Y.P. Singh, who visited the Nilambur station on Tuesday, said the Railways would do everything possible to enhance passenger comfort on the route.

Mr. Singh, however, said the opening of additional ticket counters would not solve the problem unless people avoided the last-minute rush to take tickets.

“How can we help the passengers when they arrive en masse at 6.25 a.m. to catch the 6.30 a.m. train?” Mr. Singh asked.

He said the authorities should provide transport for the people to reach the stations well before 6 a.m.

Ticket-less travel

The last-minute rush had been pointed out as a cause for increased ticket-less travel. Mr. Singh said the Railways would intensify ticket-checking on the route.

The Railways would consider regularising a special train service (no. 0674/0673) between Nilambur and Shoranur and extending it up to Ernakulam.

The train, introduced as a special during last Onam, continued to run as it got good patronage from passengers.

Mr. Singh said a computerised passenger reservation system (CPRS) and an unreserved ticketing system (UTS) would soon be introduced at Nilambur and Angadipuram.

The introduction of UTS will help people take tickets up to three days in advance of the journey.

Mr. Singh, who arrived with senior officials, spent about two hours at the Nilambur Road station. Senior Divisional Commercial Manager T. Balan and Divisional Security Commissioner Jyotikumar Satija accompanied him.