Kerala - Kozhikode   

Flaws in quota allocation on Jan Shatabdi

KOZHIKODE: Rail passengers from north Kerala are yet to receive the full benefits of the extended Thiruvananthapuram-Ernakulam Jan Shatabdi Express to Kozhikode owing to alleged flaws in the allocation of the reservation quota and remote location system.

Often, the train runs empty to and fro from Kozhikode. Passengers cannot buy the tickets on the day of the journey. They have to be booked in advance. The Jan Shatabdi Express was extended to Kozhikode on August 14. More than a month since, the railway authorities are yet to rectify these problems.

The train has been allotted 18 coaches. However, the quota is single with the remote location system at Ernakulam. Hence, if a passenger reserves a ticket from a particular station to any destination between Kozhikode and Thiruvanthapuram, it means that a seat has been completely reserved from Kozhikode to Thiruvananthapuram, thereby leaving hundreds of passengers in the waitlist category.

Reservations are most in the Ernakulam-Thiruvananthapuram sector and the Kozhikode-Ernakulam sector. If seats are fully booked from Ernakulam to Thiruvananthapuram, passengers who book tickets from Kozhikode to Ernakulam will find themselves on the waiting list. In fact, the seats remain vacant from Kozhikode to Ernakulam. This happens in the case of seats from Ernakulam to Kozhikode. The wait-listed passengers get confirmation only at the time of journey.

Mostly on Sundays, the waiting list turns a record of sorts. Last Sunday, the number of waitlisted passengers was 989. Noticeably, all of them became confirmed tickets.

Suppose 50 seats are vacant after bookings are over in the Kozhikode-Thiruvananthapuram sector, it would mean 50 seats are vacant from Kozhikode to any destination in the south, including Kollam or Varkala.

But if a passenger reserves, say, five tickets from Kozhikode to Shoranur, then the vacancy automatically turns to 45. But even after the passenger alights at Shoranur, the system will still show that only 45 seats are vacant. This is because of a flaw in the allocation of quota and remote location system, officials said.

Incidentally, Railway officials inform the Chennai headquarters regarding the vacancy after the preparation of chart. This renders the railway reservation counter clerks at Kozhikode station unable to meet the requirements of passengers queuing up for tickets.

One of the viable options is to divide the now existing single quota between Kozhikode and Ernakulam. Kozhikode could be provided five or six coaches in the reservation quota for Kozhikode region. This will help passengers to reserve tickets from the Kozhikode or any other stations, Tirur or Shoranur.

In this way, the railways can also solve the problem of commuters wishing to travel without booking their ticket in advance. Further, the railways could increase its earnings with more passengers occupying the empty seats.

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