More train reservation counters to shut down

Owing to poor patronage, the Bengaluru division of the South Western Railway plans to close down more number of passenger reservation system (PRS) centres in the City soon.

“In its first move, three of the 53 PRS centres have been already closed down due to poor response,” N S Sridhar Murthy, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, told Deccan Herald. The three centres were located in KR Market, Indiranagar and Austin Town.

Reservation counters at Anekal and Electronic City too were not viable. However, they were not shut down this time, he said, and added that more number of people had been using online train booking facility, which was a good sign.

In all, there are 67 PRS centres in the City, including seven Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendra and counters in post offices. A PRS centre located at Utility building on MG Road, which was on the verge of being shut down, has been retained after a request from the Madras Engineer Group (MEG) and Centre, the senior manager said.

Review in 6 months

Murthy said there would be no more closure of any PRS centres for a few months. “Until a fresh review, we will not shut down any centre. The department will study the viability after six months. The decision to close or not to close counters will be taken based on the review,” he pointed out.

He said some of the reservation counters were selling only 30 to 40 tickets each hour, while the reasonable target was 180 tickets. If this continues, the department will be burdened with additional expenses such as on space and manpower on each centre, which is not viable in the long run, he said.

He said passengers had a choice of booking train tickets online or make use of newly introduced Automatic Ticket Vending Machines and Cash/Smart Card-operated Ticket Vending Machine installed at several places at the Bengaluru City Railway Station.