NEW DELHI / CHENNAI: If the proposals put forward by Union Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda see the light of the day, gone will be the days when you had to search for change for your parking ticket and then stand in a queue to pick up a platform ticket at Chennai Central.
The introduction of combo platform-cum-parking tickets is seen as an effort to reduce the hassle caused by separate procurement and what’s more, you could buy them online.
As part of a slew of initiatives aimed at easing passenger travel, the railway budget also proposes to expand the scope of the online booking system and travellers can now book the coach, berth and the seat as part of the journey preparations.
The budget provides for mandatory provision of Wi-Fi facilities to A and A1 category railway stations, and both Chennai Central and Chennai Egmore stand to benefit as both are A1 class stations. Wi-Fi was introduced in Chennai Central nearly a decade back, but it has remained periodically out of service.
Yet it has been included in the railway budget and plans to implement the service will presumably be done via Railtel, Railways’ internal high speed network backbone.
Some stations could have their conservancy activities outsourced.
In the budget, the State got four regular trains and one special purpose train, a far cry from the 14 new trains in each of the two previous years. It, however, needs to be noted that nine new trains had been announced in the Interim Railway Budget.
Gowda said special train services to Melmaruvattur and Velankanni would continue in the festival season. Apart from this, the newly announced Bangalore-Kamakhya Premium Express would pass through Chennai, bringing further connectivity with the eastern and northeastern zones.