It’s 5 p.m. on a Friday and the queues at the ticket counters of Chennai Egmore Railway Station lengthen, along with the shadows. For the next three to four hours, ticket issuers at six counters, including the one on the platform, can’t even imagine stealing a quiet moment.
The evening rush hour at the station stretches from 4 p.m. to 9.30 p.m.
Two counters, including the platform ticket counter, are open round-the-clock. To meet the challenges of the rush hour, three more function. There is another counter, established exclusively for senior citizens and the differently-abled.
For passengers of suburban trains, two counters function round-the-clock. During rush hour and holiday season, an extra counter is operated.
On this side of the counter, one sees only restless rows of passengers, holding baggages and fidgeting with their wallets and purses to pull out currency notes. The scene is boring. It’s impressive on the other side of the counter.
With what seems to be a sleight of hand, ticket issuers wearing white shirts, key in the travel information on their computer systems, hold up a few notes against the light to verify their authenticity, count out change manually and issue the tickets.
They do it, with practised ease. But I wouldn’t want to trade places with them, simply because their jobs are marked by a soul-sapping monotony.
In a tight corner
In an eight-hour shift, each ticket issuer is expected to issue 800 tickets. They have been trained to issue at least three tickets in one minute.
Of course, depending on the shift-time and season, there will be variations in the number of tickets issued. A ticket collector has to be at his post through the entire duration of his shift.
In the case of an emergency, such as having to visit the rest room, the ticket issuer has to seek the permission of the supervisor as well as the first passenger at the counter.
When it comes to meals, ticket issuers either defer having them or take quick bites while issuing tickets. Rarely, they close the counter for five minutes and have a super-quick meal.
Automatic ticket-vending machines are installed at the station to ease the traffic at the ticket counters and take some load off the ticket issuers, but technical glitches often come in the way of this facility being used optimally.
Due to staff shortage, women employees have to do night shifts.
Poor amenities
The ticket issuing rooms are spacious, but clutter has made them look less so. They are crammed with electronic devices, tables, chairs and stacks of files.
The suite of furniture is not impressive. With sagging seats and warped, the cane chairs are past their prime. One ticket issuer has got accustomed to a cane chair that lacks a functional backrest and has an exposed steel rod.
This department seems to have missed the tech bus — the staff continue to work with CRT monitors and manual printers. If the outmoded printers conk out, summoning technical assistance is a challenge.
So, the staff, with limited or no expertise, fiddle about with the wire. Sometimes, it works. When it does not, they have to wait for days for technical intervention. Should a glitch occur during rush hour, they calmly open an alternate counter.
At the receiving end
Unfortunately, the Railways does not provide railway stations with changes for bigger amounts such as ₹2,000 or ₹500. There have been instances of passengers handing over a ₹2,000 bill for a ₹10-platform ticket. The staff are left with no option but to make such passengers wait till there is sufficient change. Sometimes, such a passenger turns the tables on the ticket issuer, ignoring that he’s the one at fault. “You are in government service and don’t have any change?” — a response that ticket issuers are accustomed to.
