Public harassed by long queues at railway ticket counters

Public harassed by long queues at railway ticket counters

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, May 3, 2012: Commuters at Mangalore Central Railway Station are inconvenienced by long queues at ticket counters.

According to an Alvas College student, people are made to wait endlessly for a ticket, which causes a great deal of inconvenience to passengers who want to catch day trains.

A resident of Mulky complained that there is no separate queue for women, many of who have to wait for a long time holding babies and heavy luggage.

A businessman says that the queues are not regulated in the mornings when there is a rush for tatkal tickets, owing to which some bullies push their way to the front and get the tickets first.

The senior citizens suffer the most as they find it very difficult to get a ticket. A senior citizen who travels regularly to Mumbai says that senior citizens have to fill in an application form and wait in the queue to submit it, adding that the size of the text on the application forms is too small for the aged to read.

People also have to wait for a long time even to get platform tickets. The railway station has absolutely no vending machines for platform tickets.

Speaking on the issue, S. James, the PRO for the Palakkad Division of Southern Railways, said that four more ticket counters will be set up when the station gets a second entrance point at Attavar. Stating that the Jan Sadharan booking counters near railway stations are not being used, he said that several such counters will soon be opened near railway stations. He also said that the railways are short staffed and are trying to recruit more people to address the problem. He also said that vending machines do not work at any railway station.