CHENNAI: After many years of waiting, the Southern Railways has finally opened a new Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counter at the Villivakkam railway station recently after a long wait by the residents.
At the Villivakkam station counters, only tickets for the suburban trains were available before the new provision was made. Hence residents of the nearby colonies like Villvakkam, Kolathur and GKM colony would have to travel at least 5 km to the nearest PRS counters at Perambur, Avadi or ICF to book tickets for long distance trains. This was inconvenient for the residents as there weren’t feeder bus services and the roads in the area were also in a poor condition, residents said.
“The new counter is just a five-minute walk from my home. Earlier, I had to wake up an hour in advance and travel to Perambur railway station to book tickets. This has come as a relief to residents,” said G Mani, a local resident. Normally, PRS counters are opened till 8pm at all other locations, but as of now, the new counter will be operational only from 8am to 2pm until it receives good patronage. “The response has been encouraging in the first three days. We have received around 100 forms so far,” said a railway official at the Villivakkam station.