Train of woes at Hubli rly station
TIMES NEWS NETWORK - MANU AIYAPPA
30 Oct, 2006 2302hrs IST
HUBLI: The city of Hubli may take pride in the fact that it houses the headquarters of South Western Railway. But ironically, woes of rail commuters never seems to end. Getting train reservations at Hubli railway reservation counters has become a Herculean task due to the shortage of staff and reservation counters.
The condition of passengers at the reservation office is pitiable. Though there are four counters, only two or three are operational. There are only four staffers besides a supervisor who work in shifts round the clock.
This results in long queues and frayed tempers but there is no hope for the harassed people of the city as the railway authorities seem to be in no hurry to improve the situation. Residents are fed up of complaining to the authorities.
A quick perusal of the complaint register reveales that several people had requested for opening two or more reservation counters considering that the number of passengers booking their tickets from Hubli railway station is growing by the day. Some others have also questioned the quality of service at the reservation and inquiry centre.
The crux of the matter though is the shortage of staff besides frequent breakdown of the computer network and insensitive rules. Endorsing this, a railway reservation clerk said: "The problem is not uncommon.
Every other day, passengers are forced to waste precious time because of serpentine queues and breakdown of computer link. But we are not to be blamed for it.
The fault is of post and telegraph department besides severe shortage of staff". He said they reserved around 400 seats daily which include tickets which have to be processed manually like warrants of army personnel.
He said though they were able to tackle the rush, the queue becomes inordinately long when warrant or concession tickets have to be processed.
Clerks say it sometimes becomes difficult to man the inquiry counter when someone goes on leave. They said they had requested for an increase in the number of clerks at the station, but nothing had been done so far.
"We had hope that things would improve after Hubli became the headquarters of South Western Railway, but it was not to be so", they added.
Inconvenience to public is further aggravated by the absence of benches. These are particularly needed for the old and the handicapped as they have to wait for long in the event of a link failure.
They have no option but to sweat it out in the never-ending queues. Worse is that there is no separate counters for women, senior citizens and Army personnel.
The inquiry centre always remains deserted. During shift change, the clerks concerned stop issuing tickets for 30-45 minutes and the next shift takes considerable time to settle down, passengers complain. A nexus between booking agents and some Railway officials too add to their problem.
To ease the rush and public inconvenience, the residents here suggest that private reservation counters be opened in different parts of the city.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK - MANU AIYAPPA
30 Oct, 2006 2302hrs IST
HUBLI: The city of Hubli may take pride in the fact that it houses the headquarters of South Western Railway. But ironically, woes of rail commuters never seems to end. Getting train reservations at Hubli railway reservation counters has become a Herculean task due to the shortage of staff and reservation counters.
The condition of passengers at the reservation office is pitiable. Though there are four counters, only two or three are operational. There are only four staffers besides a supervisor who work in shifts round the clock.
This results in long queues and frayed tempers but there is no hope for the harassed people of the city as the railway authorities seem to be in no hurry to improve the situation. Residents are fed up of complaining to the authorities.
A quick perusal of the complaint register reveales that several people had requested for opening two or more reservation counters considering that the number of passengers booking their tickets from Hubli railway station is growing by the day. Some others have also questioned the quality of service at the reservation and inquiry centre.
The crux of the matter though is the shortage of staff besides frequent breakdown of the computer network and insensitive rules. Endorsing this, a railway reservation clerk said: "The problem is not uncommon.
Every other day, passengers are forced to waste precious time because of serpentine queues and breakdown of computer link. But we are not to be blamed for it.
The fault is of post and telegraph department besides severe shortage of staff". He said they reserved around 400 seats daily which include tickets which have to be processed manually like warrants of army personnel.
He said though they were able to tackle the rush, the queue becomes inordinately long when warrant or concession tickets have to be processed.
Clerks say it sometimes becomes difficult to man the inquiry counter when someone goes on leave. They said they had requested for an increase in the number of clerks at the station, but nothing had been done so far.
"We had hope that things would improve after Hubli became the headquarters of South Western Railway, but it was not to be so", they added.
Inconvenience to public is further aggravated by the absence of benches. These are particularly needed for the old and the handicapped as they have to wait for long in the event of a link failure.
They have no option but to sweat it out in the never-ending queues. Worse is that there is no separate counters for women, senior citizens and Army personnel.
The inquiry centre always remains deserted. During shift change, the clerks concerned stop issuing tickets for 30-45 minutes and the next shift takes considerable time to settle down, passengers complain. A nexus between booking agents and some Railway officials too add to their problem.
To ease the rush and public inconvenience, the residents here suggest that private reservation counters be opened in different parts of the city.
