Title - The amenities wish-list

While the demands for new trains will continue to grow with the expansion of Mysore city, providing amenities to passengers at important stations is equally important to make the journey comfortable.  And one of the important demands placed by the stakeholders pertained to augmenting the staff strength at the current booking counters. This is particularly important during the morning hours due to the commuter rush. In this connection, though the stakeholders called for reintroduction of the earlier practice of issuing tickets three days in advance for travelling a distance of less than 200 km, the officials said it was a policy issue and they had little say in it. Yet, they have made a plea before the Board to permit issue of tickets at least one day in advance so that the queue and the last minute hassles at the current booking counters could be avoided.Installation of a giant LCD screen at the Mysore station and at the bus stand outside displaying the bus services, timings and routes along with railway timings is in the offing. Also in the pipeline is an escalator at platform numbers 1 and 2 at Mysore station (though this has been announced more than three years ago) while a demand for a travelator as at international airports has been rejected and does not exist anywhere on the Indian Railway network.  The Kadur railway station is being reconstructed as part of the doubling work between Arsikere and Birur and a new building has been planned to incorporate passenger amenities. A multifunctional complex is coming up at Birur station.

 A key demand is the introduction of platform vending tickets. But the officials have ruled it out for now on the grounds that the Railway Board has banned the stand-alone platform ticket vending machine as a new system integrated to the online reservation system was being introduced in a phase-wise manner. This will begin with stations of importance and may take some time before its introduction at Mysore and other stations in the division.  As the railway system serving Mysore and surrounding regions gathers steam, the rapid urbanisation of the city and its impending population growth consequent to the connectivity with Bangalore will bring more pressure on the railways. Hence stakeholders believe it is imperative to plan for future expansion now rather than grope in the dark when the challenge manifests.