SLEEPING HOURS ON TRAINS CUT BY ONE HOUR TO CHECK QUARRELS

NEW DELHI: In a bid to end quarrels between passengers in reserved train compartments, the Railways has decided to reduce official sleeping hours by an hour.

In a circular dated August 31, the railway ministry has stipulated that passengers in reserved coaches can sleep only between 10pm and 6am, while allowing other passengers to sit on the lower berths for the remaining time. At present, passengers are permitted to sleep between 9pm and 6am.

The circular, however, advises passengers to cooperate with the sick, persons with disability and pregnant women to sleep beyond permissible limits, should they so desire.

The Railway Board received thousands of complaints from passengers about the difficulties caused on account of “oversleeping passengers”.

Upper-berth passengers have often complained they are allowed very little time to eat their meals because lower-berth passengers tend to go to sleep immediately after boarding the train. Lower-berth passengers, on their part, have complained they are unable to sit comfortably as passengers in middle berths continue to sleep till late.

The highest number of complaints had been received from the side upper berth passengers, who remain cramped for space as the two side lower berths are often occupied by reserved-against-cancellation passengers. The circular has clarified that a person booked on the side upper berth will not have any claim of seat on the lower berth between 10pm and 6am. Ministry officials said the new directive will help the travelling ticket examiner to resolve disputes by preventing passengers from taking catnaps beyond the permissible time.

The new provision replaces paragraph 652 in the Indian Railways Commercial Manual, Volume I.

CISF PROPOSAL COMES AT A TIME WHEN THERE HAVE BEEN TALKS OF USING AADHAAR FOR STARTING A BIOMETRIC ENTRY OF PASSENGERS

NEWDELHI: After doing away with hand baggage tags at over a dozen airports, aviation security agencies are now planning to dump the boarding pass collection system and begin a regime of ‘express check-in’ aided by biometrics for smooth air travel.

The chief of the country’s airport security force — Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) — said they have begun “exploring” the technology required to usher in the boarding card-less system of air travel at the 59 airports it guards at present and at the rest of such civil facilities that are going to come under its umbrella as part of a “unified command” in the future.

“We may do away with boarding cards too. But, that depends on how strong I become (with regard to technology- based security systems). The Hyderabad airport is the only airport in the country that is totally biometric. We are trying to explore this system for all airport” CISF director general OP Singh said.

The CISF’s plans come at a time when there have been talks of using identities like Aadhaar and others for starting biometric entry system of passengers at airports. It plans to not only introduce a system like the Hyderabad airport but also work towards doing away with the boarding pass with the help of biometrics.

“I can assure the airport operators and others in the aviation domain that the CISF is all prepared and ready to facilitate these new systems,” Singh said

The director general said there could be many other ways to make air travel more secure and easy for passengers, at the same time.