In a welcome move for the people of Tamil Nadu, the Southern Railways has begun issue of unreserved train tickets in Tamil.
According to a report in The New Indian Express, the Southern Railways formed a committee to look into introducing Tamil. The team was tasked with figuring out the adaptability and translation. Following trials at a few stations, the Railways rolled out the scheme on Saturday.
The move comes after passengers demanded tickets in Tamil. The unreserved tickets were earlier in English and Hindi, while most people in the state read and speak mainly Tamil. This caused confusion as the passengers did not know what sub category of ticket they had purchased.
According to reports, unreserved tickets in three language – Tamil, Hindi and English – were rolled out at Nagercoil and Kanyakumari stations. One official said, “In Chennai division, we have started to issue tickets printed in Tamil along with Hindi and English. Depending upon the software updation, the same will extend to Central and other major stations.”
According to a report in the Times of India, the move was tested in Chennai Central and Egmore, Tiruchirapalli, Salem and Madurai stations where one counter exclusively prints the tickets. K Baskar of the Divisional Rail Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC) reportedly said, “Many passengers buy the ticket but cannot check if the details are correctly printed as they don’t know Hindi or English. I have been requested by many people at Tiruvallur station to check if the ticket is printed correctly. This will benefit them and also help them avoid paying fines to the Travelling Ticket Examiners.”
The initiative had already been undertaken in Karnataka last year when commuters received their unreserved train tickets in Kannada.