By IANS,
New Delhi : Youngsters, who till now bemoaned the shoddy infrastructure of the Indian Railways, have welcomed a host of new proposals in the railway budget which range from e-ticketing system on cell-phones to the state-of-the-art kitchens.
Now, through e-ticketing people will be able to book 7,200 tickets per minute rather than just 2,000 until now. SMS alerts will be sent to passengers on updates on their reservation status.
According to 23-year-old Abhinav Chandel, booking train tickets through cell-phone will be a boon for frequent travellers.
“Booking faster tickets on phone will surely be a boon for people using internet. If the IRCTC site functions properly, e-ticketing will also be really good then,” Chandel told IANS.
A total of 107 new trains have been announced in this budget.
“E-booking and getting the news regarding the ticket cancellation on your phone will do good since standing in the queues for booking takes an entire day and it is tiring,” said Anjali Sharma, 33, who is a businesswoman.
A host of proposals for travel safety and comfort, such as escalators at key stations, a new e-ticketing system and a swanky coach on select trains was proposed by Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal in his maiden annual budget.
However, Sharma expressed unhappiness over the hike in charges of Tatkal tickets and super-fast trains.
“Hike in Tatkal reservation charges and supplementary charges for super-fast trains might as well make people use the airway and pay extra there than travel by the railway considering better services and cleanliness in airlines,” she said.
“Even though the base price hasn’t been hiked, but overall the traveller will have to pay more. It is more like giving in one pocket and taking from another,” 62-year-old Suman Kapoor told IANS.
To improve the quality of food served on the trains and at stations, Bansal proposed food testing laboratories and state-of-the-art base kitchens.
“The experience regarding the food served has been extremely bad and I no longer opt for it, but the new measures regarding the food gives me hope,” said Murari, who runs a tea-stall in Delhi.