PANJIM: If you need to travel by train in an emergency, set aside your worries. The Union Railway Ministry is set to launch an ambitious ‘handheld machine’ ticketing concept on the Konkan Railway route, wherein you can simply approach a Travel Ticket Examiner (TTE) and book your ticket.
Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu on Friday announced the launch of this facility along the KRCL route from June 19. “This machine will be directly connected to the Passenger Reservation System server which will keep updating it with the number of vacant seats in the train,” he explained.
Earlier, the TTE would have only the reservation charts, but now he will be updated with seats available in the train. The facility will help passengers travelling in an emergency.
“We have already launched the facility in New Delhi, Chennai and other cities,” Prabhu said announcing that the Ministry is working on introducing more trains to Goa.
Meanwhile, with KRCL commencing track-doubling on the Roha-Veer section, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar has urged the Union Ministry to prioritize double tracking of its route from Karwar to Pernem, connecting it to the proposed international airport at Mopa, to decongest road traffic.
The Chief Minister also said that KRCL has adequate land available for doubling the existing single track and hence the project should be taken up on priority. “If this happens, major congestion in development would be overcome. It will help in substantially reducing road traffic, which is increasing every day,” he said.
“With the existing single track, it takes two hours for commuters to reach Karwar and vice versa. With the double track, the time will reduce to one hour,” Parsekar added.
Responding to the demand, Prabhu directed KRCL MD Sanjay Gupta to consider the proposal on priority and submit a report. “We are studying the proposal,” he told media persons after the function.
