Most counters closed, refund a big hassle for rly passengers

Nagpur: The Central Railway and South East Central Railway (SECR) have cancelled several trains, resulting into passengers queuing up at the Nagpur railway station seeking refund. But closure of several reservation counters is causing great inconvenience to the passengers.
In a memorandum submitted to Central Railway senior divisional commercial manager (SrDCM) Krishnath Patil, general secretary of Bharatiya Yatri Kendra (BYK) Basant Kumar Shukla said that the closure of ticket counters at the east and west side of the station has not augured well with the travellers, especially ahead of Durga Puja, Dusshera, Diwali and Christmas.
According to Shukla, many passengers including senior citizens are still not familiar with the online ticket bookings. “They prefer to come to the station for window ticket bookings. But they have to stand in long queues as there are fewer counters,” he said.
On the east side, there are four counters but only one is open. Out of the seven counters on the west side, only three are open.
Central Railway divisional commercial manager (DCM) Vijay Thool said that the rush at the ticket counters is temporary, “perhaps due to the recent Agniveer recruitment drive”. “Such rush is witnessed on some specific occasions only. As per our norm, there should be at least 180 (forms) reservations from one counter, but the number is around 105. Therefore, there is no point in keeping more counters open.”
Thool further said, “The government is also promoting online bookings to avoid rush at stations and counters. An app is also available even for unreserved and general ticket bookings. In view of the passengers availing refund due to cancellation of trains, some additional counters can be opened.”
The railways have been frequently cancelling passenger trains in the past three months, as per Shukla. “Many passengers prefer bookings from ticket counters so that the fare is refunded without any hassle. It takes a long time to get an online refund,” he said.