RailEnquiry

Two new facilities for passengers were unveiled in Dhanbad railway station on Sunday.General manager of East Central Railway (ECR) B.P. Khare inaugurated a video-conferencing facility at the enquiry counter and also announced the availability of reservation facilities all through Sundays. Till now, reservation counters were only open for the first half on Sundays.Khare, who arrived at the station around 2.30pm along divisional railway manager Sudhir Kumar, senior divisional commercial manager Dayanand, additional divisional railway manager Rajesh Mohan and RPF commandant Sashi Kumar, among others, first declared the launching of the second shift of the reservation counter.All Sunday reservation facilities are being launched at 14 A Class stations of ECR — Rajendra Nagar Terminal, Patna, Ara and Buxar in Danapur division, Mughalsarai and Gaya in Mughalsarai division, Muzaffarpur, Hajipur, Barauni and Khagadia in Sonpur division, Samastipur, Darbhanga and Raxaul in Samastipur division and Dhanbad.Later, he visited the enquiry counter and launched the video conferencing facility for passengers. This was a first in Jharkhand and is expected to control the huge of rush passengers seeking information about train status.Those seeking the latest status of different trains can now get the information through staff manning the control room of the station. Earlier, the staff sitting in the enquiry counter often had to call the control room and seek information to answer passenger queries.

Speaking to newsmen at the reservation complex after the launch of the second shift of the reservation facility for Sunday, Khare said only one counter will be opened for the second shift to start with. If the passenger response is positive, all six counters will be opened in a phased manner.

About the video conferencing facility, Khare said it would be the first of its kind at any railway station in Jharkhand and would help provide the latest status of trains to passengers as they would be able to speak to the person sitting in the control room who has access to updated information.

Speaking of the delay in upgrading the southern end of the station, Khare said the Railway Board has approved a budget of Rs 4 crore for it in 2010 itself and some work began in August 2011. He added that the board has made some cuts in the budget this year, leading to a funds crisis but a revised estimate has been sent and some part of the work would be completed during the 2013-14 fiscal.

Khare also chaired a meeting of senior officials of Dhanbad division at the office of the divisional railway manager of Dhanbad division on several issues including the ongoing route relay interlocking work.