WR, CR slug it out over PRS counters

MUMBAI, MAY 24: The demand for a Public Reservation System PRS at Dadar is over 20 years old. And if senior administration officials at...

MUMBAI, MAY 24: The demand for a Public Reservation System PRS at Dadar is over 20 years old. And if senior administration officials at the Central and Western Railway headquarters are to be believed, the railways have decided that since the city has waited two decades, it can afford to wait for some more time.

In the most recent development on this front, the Railway Board has sent the proposal to the Rail India Technical and Economical Services RITES, a research organisation funded by the railways, to find a spot for setting up the PRS counters. 8220;The study will be done as part of a master plan to be drawn out for remodelling Dadar railway station, and is unlikely to be completed before six months,8221; said a senior official of WR.

The Dadar PRS has been a source of irritation in the otherwise cordial relation between CR and WR for quite some time. When the demand first came up, each passed the buck to other claiming that it was the other8217;s responsibility. The CR claimed that it did not have enough space to house the counters, while the WR claimed that the reservation counter was needed primarily for its counterpart.

The main reason for the delay in finding a spot was the absence of an approach road to the proposed counters. Two spots were finalised 8211; one near a goods shed on the northern side of the station just below the Tilak bridge, and the other near platform number five of the station on the western suburban section.

The first spot was declared unfit after officers pointed out that people would find it difficult to walk nearly 300 metres from the station to the bridge. 8220;Besides it has been a practice that reservation counters be set up in the station compounds, this spot did not fit into it,8221; said an official.

The second proposal ran into trouble when the CR refused to demolish an office of a works engineer and a basketball court on the spot. Besides, CR argued that once the fifth line between CST-Kurla was laid out, there was no other space for them to pass through expect through this spot. 8220;It costs Rs 25 lakh to set up an average PRS, which has a few counters, it is too high a price to pay if it has to be shifted after a few years of operation,8221; said an official.

However, they finally relented and in 1996 alloted the land to the WR to contruct the counters. Accordingly the Railway Board too sanctioned the project for the year 1996-97. It has remained on paper ever since.

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According to a senior official of CR, another dispute arose between the railways on the personnel to man the counters. Fed up with the squabbling the matter was referred back to the Railway Board late last year. After pondering over the issue, the Board sent it to RITES about a month ago.

Nearly 150 long distance trains stop at Dadar station everyday on their way into the city. On the CR 18 trains originate from the busiest station in the city. But for the railways, the setting up of a PRS at the station remains a pipe dream.