Interacting with the media here, Banerjee agreed to bring back the ‘janata’ meal and also provide an extra meal on trains like Rajdhani Express in case of an undue delay, thereby preventing the passengers from starving. She said it would not be compulsory to pay for the entire distance between the starting point to the terminal station while buying tatkal tickets and that the prices would be cut down.
The final reservation chart, which is currently announced two hours before the departure of the train will be announced four hours in advance. She promised that ‘139’ would be made a toll-free number and agreed to do away with the vocal advertisement. Banerjee said her focus would be on quality of food, cleanliness, punctuality, safety and security and amenities to passengers. The existing additional side berths in some of the sleeper and AC 3-tier coaches would be removed soon, she assured.
She said she would look into considering private players for the operation of the Rail Yatri Niwas but assured that there would not be any further privatisation of the existing facilities. She did not rule out seeking assistance of private players in building new infrastructure.
Mamata also informed of her plans to build toilets across the country in all the 7,000 stations. A plan of action, she said, was necessary to do that over a period of time. The first phase will take care of the major stations and semi-urban stations and then move to smaller ones. She also wanted to build restrooms within a span of every three four stations.
DH News Service
Sops in the offing
* ‘Janata’ meal scheme to be revived
* Tatkal tickets may become cheaper
* Final reservation chart to be released early
* 139 will be made a toll-free number
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