RailEnquiry

The absence of a token system is causing much difficulty to passengers who arrive at the reservation centre in the Central Railway Station here to book tickets. The token system, which allowed people to reserve tickets on a first-come-first-served basis, was suspended two months ago.It was the change in the ‘Tatkal’ reservation timings that has led to the entire chaos and the sufferings of the passengers, who now  have to stand in long queues in front of the counters. This wait is causing much inconvenience to elderly citizens and those with poor health.According to railway officials, the system was stopped in July in order to avoid the confusion arising out of managing general reservation and ‘Tatkal’ tickets at the same time. If a person seeking ‘Tatkal’ reservation arrives earlier than the general reservation passenger, the first-come-first-served basis would be disrupted. It was since July 10 that the timing of booking ‘Tatkal’ tickets was changed from 8 am to 10 am. “Issuing tokens for both ‘Tatkal’ and general reservation tickets from the same machine became impractical ever since the change in timings came into effect. Whether to place two machines for issuing the tokens has not yet been decided,” said a railway official.Though the token system is not in place at present,  the service has not been affected in any way, he added. When asked whether the token system would be resumed soon, the official said that it was under consideration.