TIRUVANNAMALAI: In an era where train tickets can be booked with a few taps on a smartphone, residents of Polur and nearby areas, including Kalasapakkam and Jawadhu Hills, still have to travel 70-80 km to Vellore or Tiruvannamalai to book a reserved railway ticket.
Residents have urged southern railway to establish a Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counter at Polur railway station, saying the absence of the facility affects passengers from more than 40 rural and tribal villages.
At present, a Station Ticket Booking Agent (STBA) functions at the station, issuing only unreserved tickets. Although Polur station was renovated under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme (ABSS) and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2025, residents point out that it still lacks a PRS counter.
K Karthik, a government school teacher from Jamunamarathur in Jawadhu Hills, said the absence of a reservation counter causes considerable inconvenience.
"Train tickets usually get booked very quickly, especially Tatkal tickets, which are often sold out within minutes. Network connectivity is poor in the hills. Whenever I need to book a train ticket, I call friends living downhill and ask them to book it for me," he said.
Karthik added that some of his colleagues travel to Jolarpet, around 50-60 km away, to book tickets.
"The worst affected are villagers living in remote parts of Jawadhu Hills and members of tribal communities who either struggle with poor network connectivity or are unfamiliar with online ticket booking. People from at least four taluks — Kalasapakkam, Polur, Jawadhu Hills and Arni — are affected," said R Subakrisha, a resident of Polur.
According to an RTI reply from southern railway dated April 27, 2026, Polur railway station recorded an annual footfall of 2,51,310 passengers and an average daily footfall of 689 during the 2025-26 financial year.
The station generated annual revenue of Rs 83.4 lakh, with an average daily revenue of Rs 22,851 during the same period. However, these figures are significantly lower than those of Tiruvannamalai railway station, which recorded an annual footfall of 31,69,253 passengers and revenue of Rs 22.77 crore in 2025-26.
Officials in the office of the Additional Divisional Railway Manager (ADRM), Tiruchy, said the station does not meet the prescribed norms for a PRS booking counter.
"For the railways, any project is evaluated on the basis of its operating ratio. If the expenditure exceeds the revenue generated by the station, the project may not be feasible. A PRS counter requires dedicated staff and infrastructure, and if passenger demand is low, the cost of running the facility could outweigh its benefits," an official said.
A recent complaint submitted by residents through RailMadad, the railway grievance redressal platform, has been forwarded to higher authorities. An official from the Tiruvannamalai section acknowledged that the demand was genuine and could benefit a large number of passengers, but said there were technical constraints.
Official sources also noted that the issue has not been actively raised through parliamentary channels. According to them, demands taken up by elected representatives often receive quicker consideration from higher railway authorities, following which Southern Railway issues directions to the concerned division for implementation.
Interestingly, the demand for a PRS counter at Polur has allegedly not been raised by MPs representing the Arani constituency during Southern Railway's annual grievance redressal meetings in recent years.