Mumbai: Central Railway starts new AC waiting lounge at LTT at Rs.10 for Passengers waiting for long distance trains

Passengers who need to wait for their long-distance trains at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus ( LTT), will no longer have to mill around on the platforms. Central Railway (CR) has recently started a new state-of-the-art air-conditioned waiting lounge at LTT for a nominal fee of Rs 10 per hour. It is being run under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

"AC Waiting Rooms Rates for Adult passenger, an amount of Rs 10/- per hour. Non-AC Witing Rooms (ladies and General) for passengers are still free" said an officer of CR adding that the airconditioned section of this waiting room can accommodate around 100 passengers at a time.

This waiting room is equipped with sofas, dining tables, cloakroom, catering facility inside the waiting room toilet and bathing (hot water), stacking of passenger luggage, mobile charging, recliner chair and Wifi facility facilities.

Generally waiting rooms were built and maintained by the railways and were an additional burden on its coffers. Since the Railways are currently facing a funds crunch due to a dip in revenue, the scheme is implemented under the non-fare revenue bracket.

"Upgradation of Waiting Room on Renovate, Operate, Maintain and Transfer (ROMT) model of Public Private Partnership (PPP) at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus has been done by Mumbai division. The operator will have to pay Rs 11,80,329/- p.a. as a license fee to the railway. The total contract value is Rs 59,01,645/ for 5 years," said a CR official.

"Our aim is to provide better passenger amenities at our stations,” said Shivaji Sutar, chief public relations officer, CR.

Sutar said that the cost has been kept low to encourage passengers to use the lounge and not crowd the platforms, especially during peak hours. “As compared to lounges at airports, the fee is pocket-friendly. The general waiting rooms will remain free,” he added.

Railway officials said the waiting rooms earlier had several problems, including overcrowding and lack of facilities. “The waiting rooms encountered rampant unauthorised entry and elongated usage by passengers. Overcrowding led to inadequate cooling, and available assets were always stretched to the limit,” a CR official said.