BANGALORE: In what could turn out to be a boon to regular commuters between Bangalore and Mysore, the Karnataka High Court has directed the Railways to increase the frequency of the number of trains between the two cities and lay a parallel line along the existing route to avoid abnormal delay because of crossing of trains.

The court was dealing with petitions by 23 residents of Bangalore and Mysore, including B. Jayaram, Bhanu Kiran, Chandreshakaraiah, Mahesh, Tarun, Narendra, G. Ranganathan, C.M. Subramanian and others, seeking a direction to the Railways to provide first class ticket to travel between Mysore-Bangalore and Bangalore-Mysore as was being done on trains in other sectors.

The petitioners wanted the Railways to permit first class season ticket holders to travel by II class A/C chair cars (lower class tickets) whenever or wherever the first class accommodation is not available in trains between the two cities.

They claimed that the facility of travel by lower class in Second class A/C chair car is being extended by the Railways in other sectors like Pune-Mumbai, Delhi-Agra, Baroda-Ahmedabad, Rajkot-Ahmedabad and Egmore-Tiruchi.

Complaining of discrimination, the petitioners wanted to know why such a facility could not be extended to the Bangalore-Mysore sector.

The Railways submitted that first class bogies were not available in some trains between Bangalore and Mysore and that season ticket holders were not entitled to use first class ticket for travelling in II class A/C chair cars as they disturb the commuters. Justice Huluvadi G. Ramesh, in his order, said: "Sufficient number of bogies have not been provided even to commuters in the unreserved second class compartments, which is causing inconvenience to passengers who travel by purchasing regular tickets."

More bogies

Noting the pressure on existing commuters, the court said, "It is time the Railways are directed to attach more bogies for convenient and comfortable travel as this is an obligation for the authority".

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail