Title - Central Railway's reservation centres prepared to handle summer bookings

MUMBAI: In order to cater to huge rush in demand for tickets for long distance trains during summer holidays, Central Railway has decided to regulate the queue post-midnight outside all Passenger Reservation System (PRS) in its jurisdiction.

Since the railways have opened the booking for long distance trains four months in advance, the rush for tickets for the month of April 2013 will pick up in the last week of December.

A senior railway official said, "To prevent chaos we have decided to allow queue formation outside PRS office at 12:00 mid-night."

At CSTM and Thane reservation centres, queue will be formed inside the PRS office in front of the token counter and tokens will be issued at 07:50 am onwards. Reservation will start exactly at 08:00 am.

He further said, "There will be a single line for normal as well as tatkal tickets .However tatkal tickets will be issued only after 10:00am as per turn in the queue."

CR said that passengers other than in queue will not be allowed to enter the PRS office till all passengers in queue have entered.

The official said, "There will substantial presence of Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel at PRS centres to ensure law and order. They have been asked keep a vigil on persons who may enter the PRS at the behest of touts to corner the tickets."