After banks and petrol pumps, post offices across the country will soon sell reserved railway tickets. The agreement is likely to be signed shortly.
NEW DELHI: After banks and petrol pumps, post offices across the country will soon sell reserved railway tickets.
The railways has finalised modalities in this regard and an agreement is likely to be signed shortly, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Tuesday informed a meeting of the parliamentary consultative committee attached to his ministry.
Prasad, while addressing members of the panel on the theme "marketing strategies on Indian Railways", said a project was underway to facilitate the purchase of reserved and unreserved tickets through ATMs installed by public sector banks at over 6,000 railway stations.
The railways has increased the length of trains to 24 coaches and the length of platforms is also being increased to accommodate 24-coach trains, an official release said today.
In addition, Prasad said the railways has taken several steps to increase freight loading, including the construction of logistic parks through private-public partnerships, liberalisation of the container policy, wagon investment scheme, liberalisation of the policy of siding construction and concession of up to 40 per cent in "empty flow" direction.
Prasad also informed the consultative committee's members about initiatives taken by the railways for the overall development of its network in the near future, including construction of dedicated freight corridors in the western and eastern sectors, opening of over 7,000 farm outlets to help farmers and upgrading 21 railway stations to world-class standards through PPP.
The members brought to the minister's notice some areas of concern, especially regarding amenities where progress is yet to be made to the utmost satisfaction of passengers.
Prasad assured the panel that the railways is committed to take all possible steps to make itself consumer-friendly.
The members appreciated the efforts made by the ministry and praised the minister and his workforce for taking measures that have yeilded remarkable results and led to a "turnaround" in the railways' financial position.
The members who attended the meeting last night included Sartaj Singh Chatwal, Girdhari Lal Bhargav, Sebastian Paul, Amitava Nandy, Anil Basu, Prabodh Panda, Devdas A Pingale, Rabindra Rana, R K Dhawan, Motiur Rehman, S K Khabaruddin Ahmed, T S Bajwa, Sumitra Bauri, P G Narayanan, D C Srikantappa, Abdul Munnan Hossain and Nizamuddin.
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