City Railway Station: New passengers facilities not working

Waiting area closed and only three counters open at reservation centre.

LAHORE:

The new reservation centre and waiting area at the City Railway Station are barely functional, less than three months after they were inaugurated, apparently due to a combination of apathy and graft amongst Pakistan Railways officials.

The waiting area is entirely closed, leaving many passengers to wait for their trains at the platforms. Just three of the 20 counters at the reservation centre are open, forcing passengers to queue up for lengthy periods. Since its opening, the computer system at the reservation centre has failed several times. Also, the bathrooms at the station are meant to be free, but unscrupulous officials are charging passengers for their use.

The foundation stone for the facility was laid on November 14, 2007, by then railways minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. Funding difficulties meant it took over three years to build for Rs80 million.

Railways Minister Ghulam Bilour inaugurated the centre in January, telling reporters it would facilitate passengers. He said travellers could book their tickets and stay in the waiting area till their train departs. But since the inauguration ceremony, the rest area has been shut for ordinary passengers.

A Railways official seeking anonymity said that the new facility was deliberately being kept from performing at full capacity by serving officials as well as Pakistan Railways Advisory and Consultancy Services (PRACS), a private firm of retired railway officers.

He said that PRACS ran the old reservation office at the station plus 16 other ticketing venues in Lahore. “The Railways administration is operating the new reservation centre and the passengers now prefer to go there to buy tickets than the old office. This is bad for their business,” he said.

He said that PRACS got a large commission on each ticket reserved at its offices and that was why they were trying to “make the new reservation centre fail”. He said that serving PR officials who were likely to end up in PRACS were backing them.

The official said the rest area was ready for use, but was not being opened to the general public. “Low level officials often go in there during break time to put their feet up, have a cup of tea and talk with their colleagues,” he said. “Some have even been caught on dates there.”

The passengers who suffer the most are those going to India on the Samjhota Express, which departs at 8am. Many arrive at the train station at night and wait on the platform till the morning.

Ashraf Hussain, sitting on the floor of platform number 1, said he and his wife were going to India to see his relatives. He had tried to enter the waiting area, but was told to sit somewhere else.

“There are no facilities for passengers,” he said. “Our luggage is not safe. We’ve heard of luggage getting stolen while people are asleep on the platform,” he said

Farooq Iqbal, divisional commercial officer for PR, said they were planning to put in more seats in the rest area and the bathrooms were unfinished. “Once the work is finished we will open it.”

He said that PRACS only got a four per cent commission upon reservations and they were operating the Railways inquiry centre for free. He said that anyone found charging passengers for the use of bathrooms would be punished.

Iqbal said that the computer system had been disturbed by power failures on a few occasions, but only briefly.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2011.