Passengers to enjoy e-facilities, regional cuisine

From wake-up calls before a journey to wi-fi and food courts at railway stations as also e-work stations in trains, the new Railway Budget unveiled by Railway Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on Tuesday offers a slew of new services to passengers. 

Booking a ticket online will also become easier with the Railways planning to improve e-capabilities from 2,000 tickets to 7,200 tickets per minute, and allowing 1.2 lakh users simultaneously at any point. At present, many complaints have cropped up about the e-booking facility at IRCTC. 

Another fresh initiative includes the facility to buy platform and unreserved tickets online. Parking-cum-platform combo tickets will also be launched soon.

The Railways is also planning to involve individuals, NGOs and corporates to provide better passenger amenities. This would include extension of battery-operated carts to facilitate movement of senior citizens and the disabled on platforms.

An ‘Office on wheels’ has also been conceptualised for business travellers. “I propose to provide work stations in select trains on payment basis. A pilot project will be launched by this year,” Gowda said.

Taking a cue from a few private airlines, the Railways will also start making wake-up calls to passengers, besides providing mobile-based alerts for destination arrival. For those who want to log into the Internet, wi-fi will be available at all major stations and select trains.

Passengers can also look forward to better food at major stations with the Railways planning to set up food courts. They will have the option of ordering regional cuisine onboard via emails and text messages. A pilot project will be undertaken in the New Delhi-Amritsar and New Delhi-Jammu Tawi sections soon.

Another proposal to improve the quality of onboard catering services is the introduction of ready-to-eat meals by reputed brands. 

Hygiene also figures prominently on the agenda with the minister saying he is aware of the “sorry state of affairs of cleanliness” in trains and stations. Cleaning activities at 50  major stations will be outsourced to professional agencies, in addition to forming of a separate housekeeping wing. The CCTVs at railways stations will monitor cleanliness as well. 

The number of bio-toilets will be increased adequately in trains to mitigate the problem of direct discharge of human waste on tracks.