Unreserved train tickets in Odia from April 1

BHUBANESWAR: People of the State can now obtain unreserved train tickets in Odia. The new initiative to be launched from Utkal Diwas, April 1, will be a step forward to promote Odia language.As per the decision, initially name and type of the train and names of originating and destination stations will be printed in Odia script. Ticket’s body and masthead ill be converted in the next phase.

Many people of Odisha, who were having trouble in reading tickets printed in English and Hindi, can now read those information in Odia script.Principal Chief Commercial Manager Ajoy Behera said the decision to print train tickets in Odia was taken for the convenience of passengers who are not conversant in Hindi and English. It will benefit a large section of train commuters, he added.

The Indian Railways has prepared all station names in Odia script which will now be implemented in 317 stations under East Coast Railway, South Eastern Railway and South East Central Railway jurisdictions across Odisha.

With technical support from Kolkata-based Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) that designs, develops, implements and maintains most of the important information systems of Indian Railways, the database of more than 8,000 station names in Odia script has been prepared by East Coast Railway as part of its passenger-friendly initiative.

“Steps already have been taken to print the station name in Odia to match with the vernacular name of the station as per the local language of that particular area. The train tickets having Odia script would be applicable for unreserved tickets bought manually from the railway counters in the State,” Behera informed.

The ticket printing software will be updated by the end of this month and would be applicable for all classes of journeys.

On Friday, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had written to Railways Minister Piyush Goyal to explore options to print train tickets in Odia.