New building for railway ticket reservation at MAQ

• Old building to be demolished

Mangaluru: The ticket reservation counter at Mangaluru Central Railway Station (MAQ) will be soon shifted to a new building here. In order to facilitate this, the few old buildings along the railway station road are being demolished and a new building will be constructed at the cost of Rs 2 crore.

Currently, the ticket reservation counter is functioning on the right side of the entrance of the Central railway station next to the escalator near the RMS centre. But since there is a lack of space for parking and other facilities, the railway department has decided to transfer it.

The new building will be constructed in front of the Sri Muttappan temple (near the office of the Assistance Labour Commissioner) along the railway station road. This building will have three floors including the ground floor plus two floors.

One of the floors of the building will be entirely used as the ticket reservation centre. It has been decided to open 6-10 counters here. Another counter will be converted as a resting room for the Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE).

Old buildings to be demolished

Only buildings existed in the vicinity of the Mangaluru Central railway station which was established almost a 100 years. Most of these old buildings existed in front of the Sri Muttappan temple. In that too there were a few old buildings with cement sheet roofing and in the backdrop of the construction of the new building, the old buildings will be demolished. Already a few small buildings have faced the axe and the decision has been taken to later demolish the buildings nearby, informed sources from the railway department.

Parking space expansion

After the new building has been constructed, special importance will be given for parking around the building. It has been decided to provide proper parking facility here for people coming to reserve tickets as well as to the railway station. In this way, those coming to reserve the train ticket will miss the premise of going till the railway station.

“Currently, there is no opportunity for parking in front of the reservation counter. But, if unknowingly someone brings their vehicle in front of the counter, the police will register a case,” alleges Kishore, a passenger.

Railway General Ticket counter doors closed!

As the plan for a new fully equipped reservation counter building at the Central Railway station is being readied, the ‘Railway General Ticket Counter’ in front of the town hall has maintained its doors closed since a few days. Since there is no proper connection with the server, the general ticket counter cannot be utilized properly, allege the people. Amidst this, the ticket counter in the vicinity of the railway station too is facing a server problem.

Article by Dinesh Ira, translated into English by Aaron Dmello