Railway authorities here are yet to receive directions on implementing the change in names of cities in the State. While names on railway stations, electronic information boards and tickets will change, the code that Railways uses for cities will remain.
Anil Kumar Agarwal, Divisional Railway Manager, Bangalore, South Western Railway, said revising the old names “will be an expensive affair”, but added that the Railways’ unique code for cities have never been changed, even in the past.
Prakash Mandoth, former member of the Zonal Railway Users’ Consultative Meetings of Southern Railway, Chennai, said, the code will remain the same as it is like a vehicle number given by the RTO. But the other changes could happen after the government sends a copy of the gazette notification, with change in names to the Railways.
“Tickets are electronic today, and changing names should be easy. Even platform tickets are computerised,” he said.
K.P. Krishnaprasad, a regular commuter said that when Bezwada became Vijayawada, its code remained BZA and when Waltair became Visakhapatnam (Vizag), its code remained WAT. A member of the Indian Railway Fans Club (IRFCA) said, “Indian Railways seems to have no specific policy for changing codes when changing names of stations.” When Bombay Victoria Terminus was renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the code changed from BBVT to CSTM, but Mumbai Central retains its BCT code.
