Title - Railways want more jan sadharan counters

KOCHI: Even as the railway is keen to open more jan sadharan ticket counters in the city in order reduce rush at ticket counters in the railway stations here, it has met with a cold response.

Railway officials said that there is an urgent need for more counters in the city but people are not coming forward to open jan sadharan counters. According to them, many passengers travel from the stations without tickets during peak hours due to long queues in front of the counters. Though there are 13-14 jan sadharan ticket counters in and around the city, only three of them are located near railway stations.

"Anyone can approach railway to open jan sadharan counters but people are not coming forward to open jan sadharan ticket counters due to the apprehension on returns. The return depends on the location of the counters and some of the counters sell around 1000 tickets every day, according to railway," said, P L Ashok Kumar, railway area manager, Ernakulam.

Passengers are made to wait for long during peak hours to purchase tickets as the counters are not enough. In an attempt to reduce rush in the counters, the railway had recently opened two automatic ticket vending machines in the station but very few passengers use the facility.

Railway officials feel that if more jan sadharan ticket counters are opened near the railway station, it would help to queue in front of the counters in the station to a much extent.