Another railway reservation centre opens,this one at ISBT-43

“According to a survey conducted by the Ambala division,more than 60 per cent of the reservation traffic at ISBT-17 consists of the southern sectors and Mohali area. Since the traffic will be the same,but diverted to this counter,two windows will be closed at ISBT-17,” said Senior Divisional Commercial Manager G M Singh.

The PRS at ISBT-43 will operate from 8 am to 8 pm from Monday to Saturday. On Sundays,it will remain open till 2 pm.

At present,two PRS centres are operational at the Chandigarh railway station,one each at ISBT-17,Mohali railway station,and Western Command Chandimandir. The daily revenue at ISBT-17 is Rs 8 lakh.

A comparative study of PRS centres at post offices and independent ones
While independent PRS centres are generating good revenue for the Railways,income from the windows at the post offices have been unimpressive. The recently opened counters at post offices across the tricity in collaboration with the Postal department are not encouraging for both the Postal department and the Railways.

“There seems to be some communication gap between the Railways and the Postal department in implementing the project. The division is working on the modalities to improve the revenue generation at these centers,” said Divisional Railway Manager Y P Singh.

While the minimum number of bookings per day by each staff member is 180 passengers,at some of the postal counters the figure could not exceed even 15. A total of five reservation counters were opened at GPO at Sector 17,post offices in Sector 22 and Phase I Mohali,PGIMER and Sector 47. One was already in operation at the Sector 8 post office in Panchkula.

Some say the reason for non popularity is the additional reservation fees of Rs 30 on AC I and AC II,Rs 20 on AC III and chair car,and Rs 15 for sleeper per form charged by the Postal department. For cancellation,a fee of Rs 10 is charged.