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  Metros   Mumbai  21 Jul 2018  Special train tickets sell before time due to error

Special train tickets sell before time due to error

THE ASIAN AGE. | SONU SHRIVASTAVA
Published : Jul 21, 2018, 1:47 am IST
Updated : Jul 21, 2018, 1:47 am IST

About 135 berths on different dates got booked by 8 am, putting those who logged in at the scheduled time at a disadvantage.

The data entry is done at Mumbai Passenger Reservation System at CSMT.  (Representational image)
 The data entry is done at Mumbai Passenger Reservation System at CSMT. (Representational image)

MUMBAI: The special Ganpati train’s online booking on Friday began at 7. 21 am, instead of the scheduled 8 am, thanks to a mistake by a data supervisor. Ahead of the Ganesha festival, Western Railway's Mumbai-Central Ganpati Special (09007)'s ticket booking was scheduled to start on Friday at 8.00 am sharp but it began 39 minutes before that.

About 135 berths on different dates got booked by 8 am, putting those who logged in at the scheduled time at a disadvantage. A data supervisor of the Central Railway (CR) is likely to get suspended for the error, said railway sources.

Initially, it was suspected that the tickets were booked by counterfeit software. The train is a tri-weekly special for Konkan. The WR is running Ganpati special trains (six trains) and Konkan Railway would be running three trains during the upcoming Ganpati festival.  Booking date for this was announced as July 20, 2018. The data entry is done at Mumbai Passenger Reservation System at CSMT.  

A senior official of CR said that the details of eight trains were correctly. However, a database supervisor entered date of opening for train no 09007 as July 20, 2017, instead of July 20, 2018.

Before actual booking of the tickets started, the system was required to be activated at around 7.10 am. However, the booking was set to start at 8.00 am only. Accordingly, the booking of eight trains started at 8.00 am on July 20, 2018.

However, the opening of the booking of tickets for train number 09007 started immediately as the date was mistakenly entered as July 20, 2017.

Chief public relation officer of CR, Sunil Udasi, said, "The booking opening date of Train no.09007 was erroneously entered as 20.7.2017, the booking for this train started immediately at 07.10 am. However, the first ticket was booked at 07.21 am. 13 tickets of Train no. 09007 were booked on September 8, 119 tickets of the same train were booked September 10 and three tickets were booked on September 15 before 08.00 am of July 20."    

Mr Udasi said that all these tickets were booked through internet (online) for various dates of journey. A total of 8 trips of train no.09007 are planned to run on 6th, 8th, 10th, 13th, 15th, 17th, 20th and 22nd September 2018. This train has total 816 berth capacity in each trip thus there were around 700 berths still available for 10.9.2018 and around 800 berths for 8.9.2018 and 15.9.2018 at the opening time of 08.00 am.

When asked whether the booked tickets or the train would be cancelled, Mr Udasi said this erroneous entry of year 2017 instead of 2018 was purely unintentional. Hence, neither the tickets nor the train will be cancelled.   

A senior official of CR said that the data supervisor has been held responsible for this erroneous entry of date and he has been taken up as per rules. 

Tags: ganpati special train, mumbai passenger reservation system