Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Restriction draws flak from passengers

MADURAI: Withdrawal of issuing unreserved train tickets three days prior to date of journey under the ‘Unreserved Ticketing System’ (UTS) for journeys made for a distance less than 200 km has drawn flak from the travelling public.

The Indian Railways popularised UTS in 2005 for the benefit for passengers with unreserved tickets who form 92 per cent of total train passengers. This spared the people of waiting in long queues to buy tickets on the day of journey. However, it was “modified” last July after the railways detected “leakage of revenue” as UTS tickets were “misused for multiple journeys.”

“Railways should strengthen its ticket checking wing to prevent misuse by a negligible number of passengers instead of withdrawing the facility per se for a large number of passengers,” said K. Muthiah, executive trustee of Consortium for Consumer Justice. The consortium has received representations from several quarters on the issue.

“In simple terms, modification of UTS means people from Madurai cannot buy UTS tickets to go to Tiruchi, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi and Rameswaram. If people on these routes, who form a major chunk of passengers using unreserved tickets, are not able to get tickets then the facility is not worth it,” he said.

Not only the passengers, but also the railways benefited from UTS. “The Railways will get the money three days in advance. Ticket counters will not be crowded, especially during festival, vacation and marriage seasons. It is because the crowd is evenly distributed throughout the day as people buy UTS tickets during less-crowded time,” Mr. Muthiah said.

Besides, the Railways also benefited due to cancellation of tickets. “And not all who cancel their journeys come to the Railways to get the refund,” he said.

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

Stories in this Section

Water level
Accent on safety in mines
IT official, bank employee caught accepting bribe
Detention order under Goondas Act quashed
With new pro-poor schemes, LIC targets 40,000 policies
Letters between couple prevent divorce
Restriction draws flak from passengers
E-tender system launched in Coimbatore Corporation
‘Balalayam’ at Muktheeswarar Temple
“Make eye donation a mass movement”
Penalty imposed for pasting posters
‘Green chemistry’ project for Madurai college
Madurai Today

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu