Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

A traveller’s companion

MORE USER-FRIENDLY: The cover of the new Indian Railways timetable for the southern zone.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The new Indian Railways timetable for the Southern Zone from July this year to June next has just hit the stands.

The four zonal railways in the south, namely, South Central Railway, Southern Railway, South Western Railway and Konkan Railway, have been clubbed together to make a comprehensive railway timetable.

The picture of the Kacheguda railway station near Hyderabad along with a collage of six tourist attractions in the States that come under the Southern zone of the railways figure on the cover. ‘The book has been designed to make it more user-friendly and easy to read with valuable information’, says the note.

The authorities have used violet coloured fonts in the book to facilitate easy reading. However, the font size of the letters and numerals had been reduced compared to the previous edition of the time table.

A separate section on select tourist attractions in the Southern states, a value-added feature of the previous edition, is missing this year.

The timetable starts with organisational details of the four zonal railways. Four simple methods have been listed out and tips provided, along with illustrations, on how to locate the tables in the 350-page book. It is followed by an illustration on how to read a table and how to locate the trains and railway stations. It’s priced at Rs. 30.

The Indian Railway Map in colour has been included in the beginning along with the a map with table numbersTimetables of express and passenger trains of all the zones as well as all-India trains have been provided.

Route maps have been given above all the timetables to enable the commuter to know the route of the train.

In the passenger information section, telephone numbers of all zones and divisions, advance reservation procedures, rail travel concessions, refund rules, booking of luggage, claims, amenities at stations, retiring rooms and dormitories at stations, list of trains with pantry car facility are included. Fares of passenger trains, Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Jan Shatabdi and Garib Rath have been included.

Public grievance and redressal machinery, public information officers under the Right to Information Act, list of zonal railways and websites along with details of rail travel service agents in all divisions have been provided in the passenger information section.

Timings and days of operation of Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Jan Shatabdi, Sampark Kranti and Garib Rath trains are included under the ‘Trains at a glance.’ A South Zone map of places of interest had been included as the last section of the book.

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