RailEnquiry

NEW DELHI: In efforts to facilitate hassle-free boarding at New Delhi railway station, Railways are considering to develop an additional entry point to the station for passengers.   At the Premier Access, the new entry point, passengers will have to pay a fee to avail the facility for entering the platform using a separate gate at the New Delhi station.   While inspecting the station last week, Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had instructed the Delhi division of Northern Railway to explore the Premier Access system to ease out the passenger rush at the main entrance of the station.   As per the direction, Northern Railway is exploring to make State Entry Road entrance available for passengers at the Pahargunj side of the station. There are also plans to explore similar arrangement of separate gate at Ajmeri side.   New Delhi station handles more than 300 trains and approximately 5.5 lakh passengers each day.   The proposed Premium Access system will help in easing out the load at the entrance to some extent. However, the fee amount has not yet been decided.   An executive lounge will become operational from next month at the New Delhi station. It will have facilities like seating arrangement, food and beverage, books and magazines, wheel chairs for senior citizens and the handicapped. It will also have Wi-Fi facility, business centre with fax, laptop facility, locker facility and wash room.   The lounge will be managed by IRCTC, a subsidiary of Railways. There will be trained staff at the lounge to assist passengers.   From receiving passengers to arranging porters for carrying their luggage and helping them board the coaches safely, rail volunteers of the executive lounge will be available to serve on payment, the official said.   Apart from the national capital, there are also plans to develop the executive lounges at other major stations like Howrah, Mumbai, Bangalore, Agra and Chennai to provide value added service to passengers.