….Despite Central Railways’ assurance the machines are still lying idle

Jawed Khurshid

The commuters at Kurla is seething with rage as the two validating machines, ticket and coupon validating contraptions have gone kaput and the people have no choice but to snake through the serpentine queues to get tickets from the limited ticket-counters there. The hall having these counters resembles fish market with people pushing and jostling each other in a false hope to speed up the process of getting tickets. 

There are six Automatic Validating Ticket Machines (ATVM) and 12 Coupon Validating Machines (CVM) at platform number one at Kurla suburban train station that handles over half a million local passengers every day. This apart from a couple of ticket counters flanking the tattered station.  During wee hours, it takes on an average 45 minutes to an hour to get the tickets from the counters. Even on weekends and other holidays the situation is no better.

Since past one year these machines are lying idle, with seemingly little hope of its getting operative in the near future, given the Central Railways’ lackadaisical attitude. Incensed commuters informed that despite their regular complaint, the authorities have shown little interest to get these machines either replaced or at least repaired. “We are running from pillar to post since last couple of weeks but no one in the Railways listen to us”, rued Gopinath Pawar a regular commuter who travels to different parts of the archipelago for business purpose.

Rakesh, a marketing executive who has to travel across the archipelago several times during a day complained, “These machines have become outdated and frequently develop snags. The problem should be immediately addressed to avoid inconvenience to the people.”   

The poor maintenance of these machines has led to the sorry state and is definitely challenging the people’s patience. Greater Mumbai with around 2 crore population according to a rough estimate relies majorly on local trains for travel to the different parts of the city. It’s not only Kurla, but other suburbs like Govandi, Mankhurd and other suburban stations too portray the same problem.