Title - Demand of credit card facility at Patna Junction high among passengers

PATNA: Though the railways has initiated a slew of measures to provide amenities to passengers at major stations across the country, a long pending demand of passengers visiting the state capital here from other far off places for credit card facility at Patna Junction has not been fulfilled by railways so far.

Giving vent to their feelings, the aggrieved passengers mostly businessmen and tourists said Patna has gone a sea change in the past five to six years. Several people visiting here do not carry cash with themselves. They have, in that case, have option to either use credit cards or ATM kiosks installed on railway premises at Patna Junction, they said.

According to them, many times ATM kiosks at railways campus either do not function or shows "insufficient balance in the accounts" for some technical reasons. In that case, people use their credit cards to save themselves from unnecessary harassment, they said and added procuring or booking railway tickets often cause great problems to them due to running short of cash with them.

Richa, Akanksha and Sikha who are frequenting between Patna-Delhi and Patna-Bangalore routes say they use their credit cards while procuring railway journey tickets. Credit card facilities are available at all metropolitan stations as well as major stations in the south. Unfortunately, Patna Junction which has become a hub of passenger trains, lacks this facility at a time when railways is committed to provide high-tech amenities to passengers, they said.

Talking to TOI, several business executives said railways must provide this facility to cater to the needs of a number of people who are availing credit card facility for long.

According to an IRCTC official, railways has the most ambitious plan in pipeline to provide credit and debit card facilities through ATM counters too. This facility will give much relief to passengers while procuring journey tickets through ATM counters, he said.