Ernakulam Junction railway station: Passengers struggle as ticket counters at eastern entrance remain ‘closed’

Kochi: Passengers are having a difficult time at Ernakulam Junction railway station after the ticket counters at the eastern entrance (near platform No 6), were ‘closed' since last week.A serpentine queue of commuters can be witnessed during peak hours at the main entrance, where there are five automatic ticket vending machines (ATVM) besides the three reservation counters. The ticketing area is jam-packed with commuters availing the unreserved tickets and those making reservations. "I have to wait for nearly 20 minutes to get an unreserved ticket to Thiruvananthapuram. Though I arrived at the station at 4pm, I nearly missed the Ernad Express," said Manoj Mathew, a commuter. Mathew rued that he came through the eastern entry only to find the counters ‘closed'. "Now all the passengers are coming straight to the main counters. Earlier, a substantial share of passengers was availing tickets from the counters at the eastern entrance," he said. "A long queue is being witnessed at the main entrance during peak hours. One has to wait for 15 to 20 minutes to get the tickets. There are still a lot of travellers, especially elderly people, who are not comfortable with mobile apps or other modern technologies," said Paul K J Manvettom, president of All Kerala Railway Users Association. However, a Southern Railway spokesperson denied that the eastern entrance counters have been closed permanently. "The counters will be opened during heavy rush, like festival days or days with PSC-exams. It's closed on other days as we found 60% of those availing the unreserved tickets are through ATVM machines. We've started two ATVM machines there," the spokesperson said. The railways are deploying the personnel to the reservation counters at the main entrance, following the ‘closure' of the eastern entrance counters.