The long wait of passengers for reservation came to end with the Tatanagar railway station on Friday inaugurating two new counters at Tatanagar Railway station.
The counters on the second entry at the Burmamines-end would remain open daily for six hours from 8 am to 2 pm. Tatkal tickets would also be available from the two counters.
“It was a long waiting demand of the counters for reserved tickets is an addition to the passenger amenities. The idea is to reduce the rush for reserved tickets at the counters based at the station building. This initiative was taken for the convenience of passengers,” said Bhaskar, senior divisional commercial manager of Chakradharpur division.
He said that two counters are an extension of the existing computerised passenger reservation system. last evening the commercial department and telecom department had sent their report to Chakradharpur regarding installation of necessary infrastructure for beginning the facility.
Railway officials at Tatanagar said the existing two-storeyed computerised passenger reservation system on the station premises has five counters for reserved tickets. Most of the time the counters witness huge rush of ticket seekers.Incidentally, the second entry from the Burmamines end which started partial functioning last year had only two counters for unreserved tickets.
“We are dedicated towards our commitments. The second entrance to Tatanagar railway station from the Burmamines end is an important railway project. It will reduce congestion at the main entrance of the station. The entrance will be opened later this year," he said at the Tatanagar railway station on Wednesday. He said that the opening of the second entrance is aimed at decongesting Tatanagar that witnesses a daily footfall of 60,000 passengers.
The second entrance will be of benefit to passengers coming from Sakchi, Golmuri, Baridih and Telco. At present, they have to cross the new overbridge to reach the railway station via Station Road. This takes a lot of time and lead to traffic congestion.It may be mentioned that funds about Rs 1.75 crore have been already spent for developing the infrastructure at the second entrance. Work for the second entrance began in 2010. Ticket counters, a waiting room, toilets, car parking and other facilities are almost ready.The reservation centre was a single storey building which was converted into a double-storeyed building. The computerised reserved tickets for long distance trains are available on the first floor while the ground floor has been earmarked for unreserved tickets for passenger trains of various destinations.
