ANY TRAIN ANY CLASS ANY COUNTER Dear friends,
With online reservation nowadaysmost book train tickets using their smart phone. Those not do familiar go toprivate reservation centres. Going to railway station and booking has reducedmuch. For Tatkal tickets many now also go to railway stations. Privatereservation centres mostly desire cash payments. Those desire booking usingcredit cards and not familiar to smartphone also go to railway stationreservation counters. Now still covid19 existinglimited trains are run daily. Reservation is possible even on the previousday also. Reservation counters are reduced in many railway stations. Anostalgic look in to train ticket booking. Other than some nostalgia, nothing more informative inthis posting. Sincerely, R.Gopalakrishnan 25-3-2021. 1. First class, second class and AC class Reservation When I came to Chennai in 1964,on left side of the main entrance to the Central Railway station, there was abig room where two or three assistants used to sit and make upper classreservation making entries in bigger ledgers. Practically on those days thereused to be lesser people using upper classes and counters and the room gave abig aristocratic look. I recollect booking of a 2nd class ticketgoing in to this room once to Salem during 1966. I was bachelor at that time. 2ndclass too was availed mostly by government officers on tour or journey. Today in that place some helping counters arethere and no more room is there in Chennai central railway station. Today 2nd class is nomore there and it has become a nostalgic memory. First class is still there in electric trains. ACcoaches have more expanded to First AC, 2nd AC and AC Sleeper and ACChair car in day trains. 2. AC Chair car on long distance trains I recollect AC chair car was inlong distance trains once and due to inconvenience for sitting and sleeping innights it was withdrawn after a period from the trains. 3. Computerised tickets After accustomed to thick dark yellow 2’’x1’’ tickets whilecomputerisation was introduced in phases, people presenting computerised whitebigger tickets was a new sight for me. Just like looking at the TVantenna and making out the residents have a black and white TV or colour TV onthose days, I used to go the conclusion those people are from areas wherecomputerisation was implemented. Today including platform tickets,all tickets have become computerised. If any person keep the old dark yellow ticket it is anostalgic memory to show to the children of to date. Even for electric trainscomputerised tickets are given now. 4. Computerised counters in the beginning In 1991 while I was inTrivandrum, the Trivandrum Central station started with computer reservation.It was most common to have system failure due to teething trouble to put it intechnical language. On those days there were separatecounters for long distance booking ear marked. Specified credit card alone was acceptedin a separate counter. Evencredit card was not familiar to most. Bulk booking was exclusive in a counter. Thesespecial counters never used to serve other type of customers on those days. I have recollection of thecredit card and long distance counters have very few people while othercounters used to have more people in the queue. 5. Token system at New Delhi I recollect a token system atDelhi station for reservation on those days. Seeing the current token, thepublic used to come at an approximate time to reserve tickets. This avoidedcrowding. I have availed this service also on my visit to New Delhi fortraining purposes. 6. Separate counter for women Some railways have separatecounter for women. I have seen it recently at Bangalore city railway stationalso. But in Chennai it is not there. I have seen it in Bombay also in 1994’s. 7. Month changing getting un noticed It was in 1994 May if Irecollect. My son’s ticket was arranged to go abroad from Bombay by therecruiting agency based in Bombay. To see him off, I went with my wife, ongetting seats from emergency quota from Chennai to Bombay. For return, we were told it is sometimespossible to get reservation from Poona. So my wife gave application for Bombay-Poona and Poona- Trivandrum separately for 15-5- 1994 availing the ladies queueand counter. What a luck…... We got the reservation or (thought so) toTrivandrum from Poona. We reached Poona. On the reservation chart we couldnot see our name at Poona. We went to the TTR and station master. Finally itwas found reservationwas not for that month viz- it was for 15-6-2004 one month after which I nevernoted!!!. Seeing my pathetic condition, thestation master issued unreserved tickets and somehow I was helped to sit in the corner of a militarycompartment seat for my wife and avail standing for me. After a fewhours somehow I managed to get one square feet space and simply sat on theflooring. Up to 10 hours it continued, then I too got a corner seat out ofsympathy by the military people and somehow reached Trivandrum. 8. Seats before the counters Later seats were provided for thequeue. Only the first few wait near the counter. The queue moves quickly atmost of the time. Anytrain, any class, any counter boards appeared before counters. Many times, the reservationcounters were almost free during certain non-season periods, especially in themornings. I had instances of standing before the counter and instantly givingreservation application by writing. Some stations maintain token system nowalso. 9. My title. Though the current arrangementslooks good, any train, any class, any counter, still I feel, separate countersfor upper class reservation and cancellations too are good. 10 Reservation counters on back and front entrances. As part of modernisation, backand front gates are provided now in many stations, especially in capitals. Reservationcounters are provided more in front gate side, one or two in the back side inKerala at Trivandrum, Bangalore in Karnataka. However in Chennai reservationcounters are in an annex building and lift/ staircase are provided to thereservation counters in 3rd floor. Current reservation is providedin the main building. 11 Senior citizen, handicapped counter. In Chennai Tambaram, Bangalore, separatecounters are provided in ground floor for them. 12. Reservation chart Display of reservation chart hasstopped displaying in bogies at least before one year. RAC confirmed berths aredisplayed in chart either in front or in platforms, whichever is convenient. 13 Identification of passengers Most now produce ticket bookingmessage as soft copy in mobiles. Identification is shown using aadhar, pan cardetc. Bank pass bookwith photo and lamination and stamp of bank is accepted as ID. Once I wasincidentally having bank passbook in my bag, I showed it to TTR, He smiled with meaning- who is this strangeperson showing bank passbook. Foreigners show pass port for ID. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/852771130.300171.1616683327872%40mail.yahoo.com.
